Miniaturized devices for DNA amplification and fluorescence based detection

Abstract

MEMS technology has contributed substantially towards the development of Lab-on-a-Chip devices, whose aim is to replace bench-top laboratory tools with miniaturized chips for processing and detecting biomolecules. During the last decade there has been enormous amount of research towards finding the best material, simplifying fabrication techniques, improving biocompatibility and miniaturizing the device scale in order to deliver devices that are more efficient, cheaper, faster and have higher throughput. DNA based bio-chips must perform extraction of pure DNA from cell, amplification to detectable amounts and checking for product specificity. In this review we will discuss one of the important bio-MEMS applications, namely, DNA amplification devices using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). DNA amplification is used in various forms for pathogen detection, forensic investigations, bio-defence, food and water control, environmental monitoring, DNA sequencing etc. We will discuss the key aspects related to the miniaturization of PCR devices: material of choice, fabrication technologies, thermal measurement, feedback control and fluorescence based detection techniques.