A study of DNA combing speed in fabricating Nanochannel ElectroPoration (NEP) chips

摘要

Electroporation through nanochannels has potential as a useful tool for cell transfection. This potential is due to: the low voltage required;;the centralized distribution of the potential penetration;;the fact that this method causes no harm to the cell membrane, and;;the even expression pattern of the target gene after electroporation. Additionally, the stable production process and improved yield rate can reduce the cost of producing the nanochannels and thus make the commercialization of this technique more feasible. This study aims to investigate the relationship between the speed of DNA stretching and the yield rate of nanochannels. We found that when the length of nanochannels is 2 ìm, the yield rate can exceed 90% at a stretching speed of 2.3 mm/s . With a similarly high yield rate, longer nanochannels (3 ìm) displayed a wider range of stretching speed. We have determined that the stretching speed can influence the adhesion of DNA and the subsequent fabrication of nanochannels. Therefore, this speed must be appropriately controlled.