High-Performance Genetic Analysis on Microfabricated Capillary Array Electrophoresis Plastic Chips Fabricated by Injection Molding

Abstract

We have developed a novel technique for mass production of microfabricated capillary array electrophoresis (mu-CAE) plastic chips for high-speed, high-throughput genetic analysis. The mu-CAE chips, containing 10 individual separation channels of 50-microm width, 50-microm depth, and a 100-microm lane-to-lane spacing at the detection region and a sacrificial channel network, were fabricated on a poly(methyl methacrylate) substrate by injection molding and then bonded manually using a pressure-sensitive sealing tape within several seconds at room temperature. The conditions for injection molding and bonding were carefully characterized to yield mu-CAE chips with well-defined channel and injection structures. A CCD camera equipped with an image intensifier was used to monitor simultaneously the separation in a 10-channel array with laser-induced fluorescence detection. High-performance electrophoretic separations of phiX174 HaeIII DNA restriction fragments and PCR products related to the human beta-globin gene and SP-B gene (the surfactant protein B) have been demonstrated on mu-CAE plastic chips using a methylcellulose sieving matrix in individual channels. The current work demonstrated greatly simplified the fabrication process as well as a detection scheme for mu-CAE chips and will bring the low-cost mass production and application of mu-CAE plastic chips for genetic analysis.

Nano- and Microbiodevices for High-Performance Separation of Biomolecules

“…7 and 8 [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. Nanobiodevices are applied to diagnosis of hypertension by the fast analysis of SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisims) of hypertension related genes and diagnosis of lung cancer through the detection of deletion of the specific sequence for the lung cancer related genes.…”

Three-dimensional Inspection and Characterization of Plastic Micro Mixers Fabricated by Different Packaging Techniques

“…At present adhesive bonding and hot embossing are the popular packaging techniques for plastic micro mixers. Innovative designs and methods (e.g., [5][6][7][8][9]) have been developed to improve bonding strengths and conditions, prevent adhesives and sealing materials smeared into the mixing chamber or flow channels, facilitate the packaging process, and reduce deformation during packaging. Plasma bonding is another technique that has been applied to the packaging of plastic microchips and microfluidics fabricated from plastics as well as glass and metals.…”

CE chips fabricated by injection molding and polyethylene/thermoplastic elastomer film packaging methods

“…Furthermore, these processes may generate debris that can accumulate inside the microchannels, thus affecting the CE separation performance. Several methods to seal plasticbased microchannels including glue bonding [21], solvent bonding [22], thermal bonding [23], oxygen plasma bonding [24], and laminated films [25,26] have been reported in the literature. However, these methods have some disadvantages; for example, using glue to seal microchannels by placing another blank plastic plate on top of the plastic substrate with microchannels requires precision to avoid glue leakage that can easily clog microchannels, which can be detrimental to the CE separation process.…”

“…Therefore, a reliable and cheap packaging process to seal these plastic microfluidic devices is still under development. Previously, a laminated film process which uses a temperature-sensitive polyethylene terephthalate/polyethylene (PET/PE) film [25] or a pressuresensitive polyolefin film [26] has been reported. For example, Roberts et al [25] rolled temperature-sensitive PET/PE films with a thickness of 40 mm onto plastic substrates at a temperature of 1257C and at a pressure of 3 bar.…”