Appeal 2007-2448
Application 10/192,352
synthesis on inert substrates” (Specification 1). The arrays are usually
formed “by attaching probe molecules directly to a substrate, which may be
composed of organic materials (such as polymeric materials like
nitrocellulose) or inorganic materials (such as glass or silicon)” (id.).
The Specification discloses a “method for producing biochips . . .
compris[ing] patterning a substrate to form a plurality of chip regions,
delineating a separating boundary between the chip regions, assembling at
least one bead array comprising bio-functionalized, optically encoded beads
on a surface of the substrate, and singulating the chip regions to form
individual biochips” (id. at 7). The term “‘biochip’ . . . refers to a chip
having biomolecules attached to its surface. . . . [E]xamples of biomolecules
include oligonucleotides, nucleic acid fragments, proteins, oligopeptides,”
etc. (id.). The term “‘singulate’ or ‘singulation’ . . . refers to a process to
obtain chips by breaking the connections between individual chip regions on
a substrate or a subunit of a substrate containing more than one chip[]” (id.).
DISCUSSION
1. CLAIMS
Claims 2, 9, 24, 26-29, 35-37, 41, and 42 are pending and on appeal.
Claim 2 is representative and reads as follows:
2. A method for producing biochips comprising patterning a
substrate, having at least one surface, to form a plurality of
biochip regions; by inscribing the substrate between the chip
regions; assembling bead arrays comprising many differently
optically encoded beads having biomolecules attached thereto
said biomolecules being identified by said optical encoding,
said assembly occurring on a surface of the substrate within
several of the biochip regions but without encoding the location
of each biochip region within the substrate; and singulating the
2
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Last modified: September 9, 2013