ELECTROOSMOTIC MIXING INDUCED BY NON-UNIFORM ZETA POTENTIAL AND APPLICATION FOR DNA MICROARRAY IN MICROFLUIDIC CHANNEL

Abstract

In this study, we describe a modification of the conventional microarray format. 20-mer oligonucleotide probes and singly labeled 20-mer targets, representative of the T-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia 1 (TAL1) gene, has been used to elucidate the performance of this hybridization approach. DNA microarray is integrated with microfluidic channel on a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) to generate non-uniform zeta potential inside the channel. A microtrench is designed and fabricated on a PMMA chip using a widely available CO2 laser scriber The electroosmotic mixing effect induced by the non-uniform zeta potential is utilized to enhance the DNA-DNA hybridization. The flow field in microfluidic channel is measured by particle image velocimetry (PIV). The enhanced signal to noise (S/B) ratio and reduced hybridization time is observed when the electroosmotic mixing is applied in the DNA-DNA hybridization.