Development of PCR Control Software for Smartphone Using both Wired and Wireless Communications

Abstract

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a detection method used in almost all the experimental processes that involve manipulation of the current genetic materials to amplify the specific target genetic material to be preferably detected. The recent PCR thermal cycler has adopted a general-purpose computing platform in which specific operation systems run in a computing device to support the GUI. In this paper, Smartphone PCR control software, including the GUI, which can be run on not only Bluetooth, but also USB Communications, is proposed. The GUI is implemented in Android platform, and the connection to the PCR device uses a standard interface USB and Bluetooth to minimize the dependence on the platform. The proposed system has been verified to run in the commercial system using Smartphone.