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Biochemical reactions on a microfluidic chip based on a precise fluidic handling method at the nanoliter scale

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Abstract

A passive microfluidic delivery system using hydrophobic valving and pneumatic control was devised for microfluidic handling on a chip. The microfluidic metering, cutting, transport, and merging of two liquids on the chip were correctly performed. The error range of the accuracy of microfluid metering was below 4% on a 20 nL scale, which showed that microfluid was easily manipulated with the desired volume on a chip. For a study of the feasibility of biochemical reactions on the chip, a single enzymatic reaction, such as a β-galactosidase reaction was performed. The detection limit of the substrate,i.e. fluorescein di-β-galactopyranoside (FDG) of the β-galactosidase (6.7 fM), was about 76 pM. Additionally, multiple biochemical reactions such asin vitro protein synthesis of enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP) were successfully demonstrated at the nanoliter scale, which suggests that our microfluidic chip can be applied not only to miniaturization of various biochemical reactions, but also to development of the microfluidic biochemical reaction system requiring a precise nano-scale control.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Chungnam National University, 305-764, Daejeon, Korea

    Chang-Soo Lee & Chang-Hyoung Choi

  2. School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Seoul National University, 151-742, Seoul, Korea

    Sang-Ho Lee & Yong-Kweon Kim

  3. School of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Seoul National University, 151-742, Seoul, Korea

    Yun-Gon Kim & Byung-Gee Kim

Authors
  1. Chang-Soo Lee
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  2. Sang-Ho Lee
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  3. Yun-Gon Kim
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  4. Chang-Hyoung Choi
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  5. Yong-Kweon Kim
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  6. Byung-Gee Kim
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Correspondence to Chang-Soo Lee.

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Lee, CS., Lee, SH., Kim, YG. et al. Biochemical reactions on a microfluidic chip based on a precise fluidic handling method at the nanoliter scale. Biotechnol. Bioprocess Eng. 11, 146–153 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02931899

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02931899

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