ELECTRODYNAMICALLY FOCUSED THERMAL CYCLING DEVICE

摘要

A device for the integrated micromanipulation, amplification, and analysis of polyelectrolytes such as DNA comprises a microchip which contains electrodes (50) for dielectrophoresis powered by an AC signal generator (40), and a trapping electrode (18) attached to a direct current source that can be heated to specific temperatures. Nucleic acids can be heated and cooled to allow for denaturation, the annealing of complementary primers and enzymatic reactions, as in a thermocycling reaction. After such a reaction has been completed on the trapping electrode, the dielectrophoretic can be switched to a direct current to release the product and direct it through a matrix for fractionation and/or analysis. The device includes data analysis equipment for the control of these operations, and imaging equipment for the analysis of the products. The invention permits the efficient handling of minute samples in large numbers, since reactions occur while sample material is positioned on an electrode in a microfluidic channel. Because the positioning, reactions, and release into a fractioning matrix are all integrated from the focusing wire, the need to transfer samples into different tubes is eliminated, thus increasing the efficiency and decreasing the possibility of damage to the samples.