Appeal No. 2006-0484 Page 5
Application No. 09/657,729
gradually made more negative. Col. 6, lines 61-64. “When the potential reaches –700
mV the photometer indicates that light is being emitted by the reaction mixture, and the
amount of light emitted increases as the potential is made more negative.” Col. 6, lines
65-68.
This disclosure reasonably appears to anticipate claims 1 and 51. The example
discloses providing a sample and a target (luciferase and decyl aldehyde) in a test
region (electrochemical cell), along with an electrochemical control for the redox
environment (the three-electrode-and-potentiostat system), operating the
electrochemical control to control the redox environment (making the potential of the cell
more negative), and analyzing the sample using a detection scheme (measuring light
output using a photometer). With respect to claim 51, the example teaches an
electrochemical control comprising the three recited electrodes and the detection
scheme is spectroscopic.
Appellant argues that, in Higgins, “[t]he reducing equivalents required for the
redox enzyme are provided by an electrode but there is only a loose relationship to what
is claimed. The potential on the electrode is controlled in order to . . . maintain a high
enzyme activity. It so happens, that the redox potential of the solution is being held at a
very reducing level via the redox mediators but it is not being effectively controlled nor
varied in order to study or determine the redox dependence of the interactions of the
various enzymes (targets) with other species (samples) that might be present.” Appeal
Brief, pages 6-7.
1 Higgins et al., U.S. Patent 4,318,784, issued March 9, 1982.
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