Thermal control of micro reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction systems

Being beneficial from dramatic progress in biochemical and micro-electromechanical technologies, traditional DNA manipulation devices tend to be miniaturized to speed up detection processing. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) are two typical examples of them. In this report, micro RT-PCR (μRT-PCR) is designed to quantitatively detect viruses. Test samples reservoirs, RT-PCR, and capillary electrophoresis are integrated on a SU-8 based monolithic chip. A high-precision temperature control unit is well developed by embedding amplification circuits and an Intel 8051 microprocessor. The integrated system exhibits high efficacy of heat transfer, exemption of fluid flow clogging and adequate sensitivity to, by feedback, control the cycle of detection for the infected malignant tissues via intensive simulations.