A massively parallel PicoTiterPlate based platform for discrete picoliter-scale polymerase chain reactions

We demonstrate successful, simultaneous polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of up to 300 000 discrete reactions in a novel platform, the PicoTiterPlate. In addition to elevated throughput, the PicoTiterPlate based amplifications (PTPCR) can be performed in extremely small volumes: individual reactions volumes are as low as 39.5 pL, with a total 15.3 microL reaction volume for the entire PicoTiterPlate. The bulk PTPCR product can be recovered and assayed with real-time PCR, or discrete PTPCR products can be driven to solid supports, enabling downstream applications such as translation/transcription or sequencing.