Study On Polymerase Chain Reaction Chip System

Polymerase Chain Reaction Chip (PCR Chip) system is newly developed research field. It is a multidisciplinary technology, which has roots in Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS), electronics, biochemistry and surface chemistry. The micro-channels, micro-chambers, micro-heaters and temperature sensors on the chip are fabricated by using MEMS technology on the substrate of glass, silicon, polymer etc. It has been applied for life science, medical diagnostics, forensics laboratories, safety testing, biological warfare defence etc.In this dissertation, PCR Chip system has been systemic studied, including chip design, microfabrication, thermal cycling and PCR realization.The topics of this dissertation are presented below:1. Research and development on PCR chip is reviewed. Then new projects were carried out.2. Several novel PCR Chips integrated with heaters and sensors are designed. The designed system has successfully demonstrated a temperature fluctuation of + 0.5°C during thermal multiplexing of up to 2X2 chambers, a full speed of 30 min for 30-cycle PCR.3. Design and constructed a peripheral thermal control system for integrated PCR Chips. The thermal controller has advantages of small volume, low power consumption and real-time accurate temperature sensing and control.4. The effect of temperature adjustment, chip capping, surface treatment, polymerase concentration and chip structure are studies. Rapid PCR on chip is demonstrated.5. Chip PCR products can be in situ detected by laser induced fluorescence. The method resolved the difficulty of minimal sample in situ detection.The dissertation showed that PCR chip system has some advantages such as low sample consumption, low power consumption and rapid thermal cycle. But how to decrease the cost of PCR chip system and enhance its stability need further works.