Appeal No. 2006-0484 Page 2
Application No. 09/657,729
Specification, page 1. “It is apparent that the redox environment of a target molecule or
species can have a great [e]ffect on the efficacy of a particular drug.” Id.
“Researchers often use high throughput systems to analyze a large library of
compounds that could have a desired activity.” Id. However, “[c]urrent high throughput
drug screening discovery processes do not provide for . . . active control of the redox
environment of a target.” Page 2. The specification discloses “a method for analyzing a
sample. . . . The method comprises providing an electrochemical control for the redox
environment of the sample in a test region and providing a detection scheme. . . . The
electrochemical control is operated to measure and control the redox potential of the
sample, and the detector is operated to analyze the sample.” Id.
An exemplary “electrochemical control” is made up of three electrodes: a
working electrode “at which the potential is controlled by the potentiostat,” a reference
electrode used “to maintain the potential of the working electrode” at its preselected
value, and an auxiliary electrode that “completes the circuit.” Page 7, second and third
full paragraphs.
Discussion
1. Claim construction
Claims 1-12 and 47-51 are pending and on appeal. Claims 1 and 51 are the only
independent claims, and they read as follows:
1. A method of performing an analysis of a sample comprising:
providing a sample in a test region:
providing a target in the test region;
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