Research Terms
Chemical Engineering Fluid Mechanics Fluid Dynamics Computational Fluid Dynamics Fluid Physics Imaging Technology
Society of Rheology, Member; 2001 - present
American Institute of Chemical Engineering, Member; 1993 - present
This device attaches to a microscope for use in purification, concentration, and classification of nucleic acids in biological materials, resulting in more efficient polyelectrolyte testing and analysis. The global market for nucleic acid isolation and purification should exceed $9 billion by 2028. In particular, chemotherapy and other cancer treatments, infectious disease research, transplant medicine, and fetal monitoring use RNA diagnostics. However, most nucleic acid purification protocols are time-consuming, use harsh chemicals, and may only be effective for DNA.
Researchers at the University of Florida have developed a device that purifies, concentrates, and classifies both long strand DNA and RNA. The device is portable and attaches to a microscope for efficient and relatively low-cost polyelectrolyte testing.
Cost-effective device that is portable, versatile, and useful for both DNA and RNA extraction and purification
This microfluidic device utilizes a pressure-driven flow and electrical field to concentrate and separate nucleic acids from other sample components including lipids and proteins. The flow and electric field strengths can be adjusted to target specific lengths of nucleic acids for concentration. After fractionating the concentrated nucleic acids by molecular weight, the nucleic acid length can be measured.
This device simultaneously concentrates and purifies genomic-length DNA samples from dilute solutions containing DNA, resulting in more efficient and cost-effective DNA analysis, testing, and sequencing. DNA diagnostics are commonly employed in forensics, testing of hereditary disorders, biological studies, and HIV detection. However, available DNA extraction methods have low efficacy levels in terms of isolating pure DNA material and additionally require costly instruments, such as a centrifuge, resulting in reduced accuracy in genetic testing and sequencing at a higher price. Researchers at the University of Florida have discovered a simplistic and cost-friendly microfluidic device that concentrates genomic-length DNA from dilute solutions at rates of upwards of 1,000 fold per minute, while also removing contaminants. This concentration and extraction device may be easily incorporated into DNA concentrator kits and biochip platforms for DNA analysis.
Cost-effective device for the rapid extraction and concentration of long strands of DNA
This microfluidic device utilizes an opposing pressure-driven flow and small electrophoretic velocity to concentrate DNA at one end of a microcapillary channel. The DNA first enters the microcapillary and stretches and aligns due to the strong pressure-driven flow. An electric field, simultaneously applied along the length of the capillary, acts on the polar nature of the DNA to generate a velocity toward the inlet as well as the bounding walls of the microfluidic channel. Once near the wall, the axial electrophoretic velocity exceeds the pressure-driven flow velocity and the DNA returns to the inlet of the microcapillary where it concentrates and can be collected for analysis. Under specific conditions, no DNA passes through the channel whereas other materials (particulates and macromolecules, even if electrophoretic) do pass through. Hence, the concentrated DNA sample is also purified.
