Appeal No. 1997-3116
Application 08/294,953
serum-free medium. Page 3. The specification discloses establishment of
Trichoplusia ni cell lines in serum-free medium.
Discussion
The pending claims are drawn to cell lines derived from Trichoplusia ni
eggs, which are established in a serum-free medium, and which have various
recited properties. The examiner rejected all of the claims over the prior art.
1. The rejection of claims 1-8.
The examiner rejected claims 1-8 as obvious over Stiles in view of
Granados (‘435). According to the examiner, Stiles teaches establishing cell
lines derived from insect eggs in a serum-free medium but does not teach
Trichoplusia ni cell lines. Granados (‘435) teaches establishing cell lines derived
from Trichoplusia ni eggs but does not teach establishing such cell lines in
serum-free medium. The examiner concluded that, in view of the combined
references, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to
use the methods taught by Stiles to establish cell lines derived from T. ni eggs in
serum-free medium. The examiner states that the skilled artisan would have
been motivated to use serum -free medium to establish T. ni cell lines because
Granados (‘435) adapted the disclosed T. ni cell lines to serum-free medium after
they had been established in serum-containing medium.
Appellant argues that at the time of the present invention, those skilled in
the art did not believe that it was possible to establish T. ni cell lines in serum -
free medium. Appellant argues that the insect cell lines taught by Stiles were
derived from a different species of insect (cotton boll weevil), which belongs to a
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