Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in flow-through micro-reactors:: Thermal and fluidic concepts

This paper presents a novel flow-through reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) micro-reactor with optimized thermal and fluidic characteristics. We have designed a micro-reactor comprising a heating plate for different temperature zones and a fluidic chip with serpentine micro-channels. One feature of this chip system is the generation of a segmented flow for high-throughput analysis of PCR samples. We show the first successful reactions on the chip with different flow regimes and variations of PCR methods from a standard PCR to one-step RT-PCR reactions. The aim of the experiments was the detection of the HPV 16 DNA genome and of viral oncogene transcripts, respectively. Both markers are of importance in medical diagnostics. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.