Non-contact heat management for nucleic acid hybridization in sample-to-answer centrifugal microfluidics

Abstract

This report focuses on the application of a newly developed non-contact heat management system, based on infrared radiation, to achieve advanced nucleic acid (NA) hybridization on a centrifugal microfluidic platform. Our system was used to eliminate formamide, a common reagent used to enable hybridization at room temperatures. Formamide poses significant challenges in the development of molecular μTAS platforms with respect to issues such as reagent storage and low analyte detection. Thermal energy can be used to replace formamide during NA hybridization, allowing for the processing of more targets and the elimination of a highly corrosive reagent. The developed heat management system was implemented to produce highly stringent conditions for formamide-free NA hybridization of genetic material from clinical samples containing parainfluenza viruses on a rotating microfluidic platform.