title: A parallelized microfluidic DNA bisulfite conversion module for streamlined methylation analysis.
abstract: Aberrant methylation of DNA has been identified as an epigenetic biomarker for numerous cancer types. The vast majority of techniques aimed at detecting methylation require bisulfite conversion of the DNA sample prior to analysis, which until now has been a benchtop process. Although microfluidics has potential benefits of simplified operation, sample and reagent economy, and scalability, bisulfite conversion has yet to be implemented in this format. Here, we present a novel droplet microfluidic design that facilitates rapid bisulfite conversion by reducing the necessary processing steps while retaining comparable performance to existing methods. This new format has a reduced overall processing time and is readily scalable for use in high throughput DNA methylation analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stark
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Dong Jin
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pisanic
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA.
authors.forename: Kuangwen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hsieh
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA. thwang@jhu.edu.|Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA. thwang@jhu.edu.|Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA. thwang@jhu.edu.
authors.forename: Tza-Huei
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D019175:DNA Methylation; D056656:Lab-On-A-Chip Devices; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D013447:Sulfites / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D013447:Sulfites; C042345:hydrogen sulfite
keywords: Bisulfite conversion; Epigenetics; Lab-on-chip; MSP; Magnetofluidics; Methylation