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Fractal-shaped microchannel design for a kinetic analysis of biochemical reaction in a delay line

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Abstract

Microfluidic systems have been widely used to investigate chemical and biochemical reactions in a small volume. Their geometries are designed to meet the time scale and detection scheme for specific reactions to be analyzed. However, the time scales of the reaction dynamics depend on the type of reactions and concentrations of reactants, and the required time resolution also varies even in a single reaction time course. A system design that is universally applicable to a wide range of time scales should save time and reduce costs. Here, we propose a microfluidic channel design in a fractal-shaped configuration for a kinetic analysis of biochemical reactions encapsulated in microdroplets. We demonstrate that this configuration is effective in resolving the time courses of β-glucuronidase-catalyzed hydrolysis reactions and in vitro translation/transcription reactions, which are different in their reaction time scales, by simply changing the levels of the target nodes in the fractal geometry.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Yasuaki Kazuta, Ms. Hitomi Komai, and Tomomi Sakamoto for producing the PURE system. This research was supported in part by “Special Coordination Funds for Promoting Science and Technology: Yuragi Project”, the Global COE (Centers of Excellence) Program of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioinformatic Engineering, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University, Yamadaoka 1-5, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Katsuki Hirata, Hiroaki Suzuki, Kazufumi Hosoda & Tetsuya Yomo

  2. Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (ERATO), Japan Science and Technology Agency, Yamadaoka 1-5, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Tetsuo Ichii, Hiroaki Suzuki, Tomoaki Matsuura & Tetsuya Yomo

  3. Department of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Yamadaoka 2-1, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Tomoaki Matsuura

  4. Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Yamadaoka 1-3, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Tetsuya Yomo

Authors
  1. Katsuki Hirata
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  2. Tetsuo Ichii
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  3. Hiroaki Suzuki
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  4. Tomoaki Matsuura
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  5. Kazufumi Hosoda
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  6. Tetsuya Yomo
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Correspondence to Tetsuya Yomo.

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Hirata, K., Ichii, T., Suzuki, H. et al. Fractal-shaped microchannel design for a kinetic analysis of biochemical reaction in a delay line. Microfluid Nanofluid 13, 273–278 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-012-0958-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-012-0958-y

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