title: A low-cost, disposable card for rapid polymerase chain reaction.
abstract: A low-cost, disposable card for rapid polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was developed in this work. Commercially available, adhesive-coated aluminum foils and polypropylene films were laminated with structured polycarbonate films to form microreactors in a card format. Ice valves [1] were employed to seal the reaction chambers during thermal cycling and a Peltier-based thermal cycler was configured for rapid thermal cycling and ice valve actuation. Numerical modeling was conducted to optimize the design of the PCR reactor and investigate the thermal gradient in the reaction chamber in the direction of sample thickness. The PCR reactor was experimentally characterized by using thin foil thermocouples and validated by a successful amplification of 10 copy of E. coli tuf gene in 27 min.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
authors.forename: Guangyao
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Siegrist
authors.forename: Chengwu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Jim V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Zoval
authors.forename: Gale
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: Regis
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Peytavi
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Huletsky
authors.forename: Michel G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Bergeron
authors.forename: Marc J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Madou
mesh_terms: D004209:Disposable Equipment / Q000191:economics*; D004867:Equipment Design; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D008904:Miniaturization; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D013696:Temperature