BioMEMS using electrophoresis for the analysis of genetic mutations

Abstract

Biomedical microelectromechanical systems (BioMEMS) are rapidly emerging in many areas of genetic analysis. These devices demonstrate potential for rapid analysis using modular components capable of sample purification, amplification, mutation discrimination and detection on small, portable point-of-care instruments. Here, various approaches to genetic mutation detection and the modern analysis platform, capillary electrophoresis, will be briefly reviewed. Microfluidic devices will be discussed in relation to fabrication techniques, mutation detection using simple electrophoretic separations, multiplexed designs and modular functionalities, as well as challenges and issues surrounding this technology.

Molecular Diagnostics on Electrophoretic Microchips

“…A number of reviews have since described the application of microchip technology, both current and potential, to clinical chemistry (7)(8)(9) and specifically to molecular diagnostic testing (10)(11)(12) . The reader is directed also to the recent review by Soper and co-workers (13) on electrophoretic BioMEMS devices for genetic analysis.…”

Modular microfluidic system fabricated in thermoplastics for the strain-specific detection of bacterial pathogens

“…25 Also, some polymers show non-specific adsorption artifacts that can produce problems for securing good contrast for microarray measurements. 26,27 …”

“…25 Also, some polymers show non-specific adsorption artifacts that can produce problems for securing good contrast for microarray measurements. 26,27 In this work, we focused on addressing the aforementioned issues by constructing an integrated polymer-based, modular microfluidic system for the rapid and efficient identification of bacterial pathogens. The system was based on a modular design approach, in which certain steps of the molecular processing pipeline were situated on modules made from a material selected to suite the particular application need.…”