Recent advances in microfluidic technologies for biochemistry and molecular biologys (original) (raw)

Microfluidic chips for protein differential expression profiling

ELECTROPHORESIS, 2009

Biomarker discovery and screening using novel proteomic technologies is an area that is attracting increased attention in the biomedical community. Early detection of abnormal physiological conditions will be highly beneficial for diagnosing various diseases and increasing survivability rates. Clearly, progress in this area will depend on the development of fast, reliable, and highly sensitive and specific sample bioanalysis methods. Microfluidics has emerged as a technology that could become essential in proteomics research as it enables the integration of all sample preparation, separation, and detection steps, with the added benefit of enhanced sample throughput. The combination of these advantages with the sensitivity and capability of MS detection to deliver precise structural information makes microfluidics-MS a very competitive technology for biomarker discovery. The integration of LC microchip devices with MS detection, and specifically their applicability to biomarker screening applications in MCF-7 breast cancer cellular extracts is reported in this manuscript. Loading 0.1−1mgofcrudeproteinextracttrypticdigestonthechiphastypicallyresultedinthereliableidentificationof0.1-1 mg of crude protein extract tryptic digest on the chip has typically resulted in the reliable identification of 0.1−1mgofcrudeproteinextracttrypticdigestonthechiphastypicallyresultedinthereliableidentificationof40-100 proteins. The potential of an LC-ESI-MS chip for comparative proteomic analysis of isotopically labeled MCF-7 breast cancer cell extracts is explored for the first time.

Microarrays and microfluidic devices: miniaturized systems for biological analysis

Microelectronic Engineering, 2002

Nowadays, the possibility to work on the whole genome in real time is achievable. However, new tools are necessary for high throughput analysis and cost reduction. In such a way, microarrays and lab-on-a-chip systems are going to fulfil these new requirements, including the miniaturization of biological assays as well as the parallelization of analysis. Both sensitivity and reliability of microarray devices are key points for the future. The optical enhancement of the fluorescence signal is particularly addressed in this issue, where it is shown that a significant increase in sensitivity can be reached. Concerning the technology of electrophoresis in microfluidic devices, remarkable developments have been achieved, especially in the DNA separation area. In particular, a specifically designed microfluidic device has been implemented for high throughput genotyping and its stability has been validated on a set of 150 thermally cycled biochemical reactions.

Microfluidics in biotechnology

Journal of nanobiotechnology, 2004

Microfluidics enables biotechnological processes to proceed on a scale (microns) at which physical processes such as osmotic movement, electrophoretic-motility and surface interactions become enhanced. At the microscale sample volumes and assay times are reduced, and procedural costs are lowered. The versatility of microfluidic devices allows interfacing with current methods and technologies. Microfluidics has been applied to DNA analysis methods and shown to accelerate DNA microarray assay hybridisation times. The linking of microfluidics to protein analysis techologies, e.g. mass spectrometry, enables picomole amounts of peptide to be analysed within a controlled micro-environment. The flexibility of microfluidics will facilitate its exploitation in assay development across multiple biotechnological disciplines.

Protein Microarrays with Novel Microfluidic Methods: Current Advances

Microarrays, 2014

Microfluidic-based micromosaic technology has allowed the pattering of recognition elements in restricted micrometer scale areas with high precision. This controlled patterning enabled the development of highly multiplexed arrays multiple analyte detection. This arraying technology was first introduced in the beginning of 2001 and holds tremendous potential to revolutionize microarray development and analyte detection. Later, several microfluidic methods were developed for microarray application. In this review we discuss these novel methods and approaches which leverage the property of microfluidic technologies to significantly improve various physical aspects of microarray technology, such as enhanced imprinting homogeneity, stability of the immobilized biomolecules, decreasing assay times, and reduction of the costs and of the bulky instrumentation.

Novel microfluidic methods for developing highly reproducible microarrays: Current advances

Microfluidic-based micromosaic technology has allowed the pattering of recognition elements in restricted micrometer scale areas with high precision. This controlled patterning enabled the development of highly multiplexed arrays multiple analyte detection. This arraying technology was first introduced in the beginning of 2001 and holds tremendous potential to revolutionize microarray development and analyte detection. Later, several microfluidic methods were developed for microarray application. In this review we discuss these novel methods and approaches which leverage the property of microfluidic technologies to significantly improve various physical aspects of microarray technology, such as enhanced imprinting homogeneity, stability of the immobilized biomolecules, decreasing assay times, and reduction of the costs and of the bulky instrumentation.

Microfluidic Devices for Bioapplications

small, 2011

Harnessing the ability to precisely and reproducibly actuate fl uids and manipulate bioparticles such as DNA, cells, and molecules at the microscale, microfl uidics is a powerful tool that is currently revolutionizing chemical and biological analysis by replicating laboratory bench-top technology on a miniature chip-scale device, thus allowing assays to be carried out at a fraction of the time and cost while affording portability and fi eld-use capability. Emerging from a decade of research and development in microfl uidic technology are a wide range of promising laboratory and consumer biotechnological applications from microscale genetic and proteomic analysis kits, cell culture and manipulation platforms, biosensors, and pathogen detection systems to point-of-care diagnostic devices, high-throughput combinatorial drug screening platforms, schemes for targeted drug delivery and advanced therapeutics, and novel biomaterials synthesis for tissue engineering. The developments associated with these technological advances along with their respective applications to date are reviewed from a broad perspective and possible future directions that could arise from the current state of the art are discussed. small 2011, 7, No. 1, 12-48 ate Dean of Research in the Faculty of Engineering, with research interests in micro/ nanodevices for biomedical applications. He has over one hundred peer-reviewed publications, including six book chapters, sixty-two peer-reviewed journal papers, and eighteen patents and patent applications.