The PCR Blog: The Polymerase Chain Reaction

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been widely used for amplification of DNA sequences. The PCR technique can be coupled with a variety of detection assays for the identification of a wide range of DNA targets. Reducing PCR to the microchip level is of interest for portable detection technologies and high-throughput, massively parallel analytical systems. The basic process of creating a miniaturized, microfluidic PCR chip and a simple method for thermally cycling this microchip during PCR amplification have been described (Herold and Rasooly, 2009. Lab-on-a-Chip Technology. ISBN: 978-1-904455-47-9) These methods can be broadly applied to a variety of microchip architectures, materials, and downstream analytical methods.

Labels: PCR chips, PCR on a chip

Newly introduced qPCR machines include the Cepheid GeneXpert and Enigma Diagnostics Enigma ML instruments, which combine automated sample preparation and real-time PCR into a single integrated compact bench top instrument, which opens new avenues for real-time PCR in field-based and point-of-care environments. At the other end of the scale is the introduction of nanoliter high throughput quantitative PCR. The Biotrove OpenArray system allows 3072 33nl reactions on a microscope slide array format, which equates to a single operator performing 27,000 qPCR reactions in a working day. Another interesting development on the horizon is ultra fast real-time PCR chips capable of performing 40 cycles in under six minutes.

from Logan and Edwards (2009) in Real-Time PCR: Current Technology and Applications

Bibliography:

1. Real-Time PCR: Current Technology and Applications
2. Real-Time PCR in Microbiology: From Diagnosis to Characterization
3. PCR Troubleshooting: The Essential Guide
4. PCR Books

Labels: Biotrove OpenArray, Cepheid GeneXpert, Enigma Diagnostics, nanoliter high throughput qPCR, PCR chips