Abstract
Laser patterned adhesive transfer tapes are a rapid, versatile, and low cost option to fabricate microfluidic platforms. In this work, we examined the compatibility with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of different types of adhesive tape materials patterned with a CO2 laser cutter. Acrylic, polyimide, and silicone-based tapes were considered. We performed a systematic study on off-the-shelf adhesive tapes with respect to fluid handling, PCR inhibition, reagent loss, and on-chip PCR reaction. A novel microfluidic PCR approach was implemented that combines the advantages of previously reported systems. It uses a thermal gradient from a single heating element and the thermocycling was carried out by passing the reaction mixture back and forth in a microfluidic channel strategically placed along the thermal gradient. Only the silicone-based tapes were compatible with on-chip PCR. The overall fabrication process takes less than 30 min, uses only off-the-shelf finished or semi-finished materials, and is amenable to large-scale reel-to-reel processing.
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Acknowledgments
This work was funded by a Department of Energy Laboratory Directed Research and Development Grant (20070010-DR) at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The authors thank Michelle Espy, Momchilo Vuyisich, Scott White, Andrew Badbury, Ahmet Zeytun, Alina Deshpande, and John Dunbar for valuable discussions.
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Nath, P., Maity, T.S., Pettersson, F. et al. Polymerase chain reaction compatibility of adhesive transfer tape based microfluidic platforms. Microsyst Technol 20, 1187–1193 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-013-1901-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-013-1901-1