Applications of Plastic Microfluidic Devices in Genetic Analysis: DNA Sequencing, mRNA Expression Profiling, and Genotyping

摘要

ACLARA BioSciences is developing plastic microfluidic LabCard(TM) devices for applications in high-throughput drug screening and genetic analysis. Manufacturing techniques exist to replicate plastic structures in high volume at low-cost-per-device, thus allowing devices to be single-use. Separations in mi-crochannel devices have been shown to be considerably faster than those in commercial capillary electrophoresis systems. Throughput in these miniaturized devices can be increased further by creating arrays of identical microchannel structures on a single card, just as throughput has been increased in capillary electrophoresis by the introduction of commercial capillary array instrumentation. Towards creation of an integrated, sample-to-answer device for genetic analyses, we have developed sample preparation and microchannel electrophoresis in replicated, single and multi-channel plastic LabCard devices. We will present our microfluidic system and report progress in using it in each of two strategies to perform genetic analysis in our devices: fragment separations and reporter molecule separations. In both cases, laser- induced fluorescence is used for detection.