Computational Modeling and Simulation of Microfluidic Biochips for Parallel Biomolecular Synthesis

摘要

In this study, a novel microfluidics based biochip has been developed by the aid of analytical modeling and numerical simulation efforts for the purpose of massively parallel oligonucleotude-DNA (oDNA) syntheses. The microfluidic biochip consists of thousands of reaction sites interconnected by micro-channels and can be used as micro-reactors for various biochemical processes simultaneously. The impacts and implications of the efficiencies of each oDNA synthesis step during repeated synthesis cycles have been evaluated to improve the synthesis yield of final full-length products. The results from analytical model indicate the deprotection step during the oDNA synthesis cycle is a vital process for ensuring the high yield of full-length products. Numerical simulation results further reveal that the confinement of various chemical reagents within each reaction site can be well-controlled to minimize cross contamination from the neighboring reaction sites by the design of current microfluidic biochip.