title: Utility of lab-on-a-chip technology for high-throughput nucleic acid and protein analysis.
abstract: On-chip electrophoresis can provide size separations of nucleic acids and proteins similar to more traditional slab gel electrophoresis. Lab-on-a-chip (LoaC) systems utilize on-chip electrophoresis in conjunction with sizing calibration, sensitive detection schemes, and sophisticated data analysis to achieve rapid analysis times (<120 s). This work describes the utility of LoaC systems to enable and augment systems biology investigations. RNA quality, as assessed by an RNA integrity number score, is compared to existing quality control (QC) measurements. High-throughput DNA analysis of multiplex PCR samples is used to stratify gene sets for disease discovery. Finally, the applicability of a high-throughput LoaC system for assessing protein purification is demonstrated. The improvements in workflow processes, speed of analysis, data accuracy and reproducibility, and automated data analysis are illustrated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Sciences and Information, AstraZeneca, Mereside, Alderley Park, Cheshire, UK.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hawtin
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hardern
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wittig
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mollenhauer
authors.forename: AnneMarie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Poustka
authors.forename: Ruediger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Salowsky
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wulff
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rizzo
authors.forename: Bill
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis*; D046209:Electrophoresis, Microchip / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D012313:RNA / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA