A low-cost, disposable card for rapid polymerase chain reaction.
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.
Jia
Guangyao
G
Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
Siegrist
Jonathan
J
Deng
Chengwu
C
Zoval
Jim V
JV
Stewart
Gale
G
Peytavi
Regis
R
Huletsky
Ann
A
Bergeron
Michel G
MG
Madou
Marc J
MJ
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