アプリケーションギャラリ

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is one of the most effective methods in molecular biology, medical diagnostics, and biochemical engineering in amplifying a specific sequence of DNA. There has been a great interest in developing portable PCR-based lab-on-a-chip systems for point-of-care applications and one strategy that seems very promising is natural convection-based PCR.

This model studies the spatio-temporal variation of the concentrations of single-stranded (ssDNA), double-stranded (dsDNA) and primer-annealed (aDNA) DNA components. The driving mechanism for the fluid motion is the temperature-induced density differences that results in buoyancy flow. This approach eliminates the need for an external driving mechanism and the difference between the temperatures is sufficient to circulate the PCR mixture and amplify DNA in a closed loop.