Drop, stop, and cycle: digital microfluidics meets digital PCR

摘要

The field of microfluidics entices researchers with the possibility of assays that are smaller, faster, portable, and automated. Consequently, a number of interesting applications, such as separations, binding assays, and PCR, have been demonstrated on chips. More recently, some researchers have turned to droplet-based digital microfluidics to make systems that save even more time and money than previous chip-based PCR assays. In the November 15 issue of Analytical Chemistry (pp 8471-8475), Bill Colston and his colleagues at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the University of California Davis present their microfluidic system for performing PCR inside pico-liter droplets on a chip.