A novel capillary polymerase chain reaction machine

I built a novel prototype capillary polymerase chain reaction machine. The purpose was to perform a single reaction as fast as possible with a reaction volume - 100 nl. The PCR mix is in the form of a 1 /1 droplet that moves between three heat zones inside of a 1 mm I.D. capillary filled with mineral oil via pneumatic actuation. A laser beam waveguides down the capillary until it strikes the drop, at which point it scatters. The scatter is picked up by a series of photodiodes to provide position feedback. Due to the efficient heat transfer arrangement, the drop can transition between different temperature steps in -2 seconds, which includes both drop motion and temperature equilibration. It was extensively tested in both 10-cycle and 30-cycle PCR, including nearly 200 successful 30-cycle runs. The 30-cycle PCR was typically 74% (as high as 78%) efficient, and took only 23 minutes. This compares well with existing machines in the literature.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2001

Author dc:creator

• Chiou, Jeffrey Tsungshuan

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Daniel J. Ehrlich.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8864

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/8864