DNA analysis involves not only taking material from living people, but also in a number of other cases. For example, at the crime scene. And DNA, as a rule, requires that a sequencing procedure be carried out, including separation - separation of nucleotide sites and purification - purification. Specialists from the University of Twente managed to create a microchip that can speed up these processes. This writes the publication ScienceDaily, with reference to the magazine Microsystems and Nano Engineering. Their device will help to significantly improve the quality of forensic and medical care.
The device is a glass-based microchip. Along the edges of the microchip there are a large number of channels for collecting DNA samples, and in the center there is a reservoir for the collected DNA and electrodes. With the help of simple reactions and exposure to an electric field of different amplitudes, the movement of electric current passes in two directions, perpendicular to each other, which greatly accelerates the process of analysis. The “usual” approach for these purposes uses the same electric field, but DNA fragments are placed in a special gel. Larger DNA fragments move slower than small ones, due to which the process of separating some fragments from others occurs. In the gel, the current moves only in one direction, which slows down the reaction rate.
During the series of experiments, the new device took only two minutes to successfully extract DNA fragments consisting of 500 and 10,000 base pairs of nucleotides, which is several times faster than the “usual” method. In addition, the chip is extremely cheap to manufacture and does not require special skills to use.
The article is based on materials .
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