Appeal No. 1999-1393 Application No. 08/242,344 Appeal No. 2000-0440 Application No. 08/217,704 Claim 14 is illustrative of the subject matter on appeal and is reproduced below: 14. A method of assaying a candidate ligand for binding interaction with a human NR2A protein, which comprises the steps of: (1) incubating the candidate ligand under appropriate conditions with a cell that has been mutated to produce a human NR2A protein, said cell having incorporated expressibly therein a heterologous polynucleotide that encodes a modulatory protein selected from the group consisting of NR2A-1 having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 and NR2A-2 having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2 wherein the lysine at position 270 is replaced by glutamic acid, or with a membrane preparation containing said NR2A protein, and then (2) determining the extent of binding between the human NR2A protein and the candidate ligand. GROUNDS OF REJECTION Claims 14, 21 and 22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Monyer in view of McNamara, Blackstone, Schofield, Grenningloh and Puckett. Claims 23 and 34 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Monyer in view of McNamara, Blackstone, Schofield, Grenningloh and Puckett as applied to claims 14, 22, and 23 above and further in view of Durand. We reverse. 118Page: Previous 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007