Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 12, 2026

Microfluidic Chip Fabrication and Method to Detect Influenza
09:43

Microfluidic Chip Fabrication and Method to Detect Influenza

Published on: March 26, 2013

Ultra-fast separation of infectious disease-related small DNA molecules by single- and multi-channel microchip

Peng Zhang1, He Nan, Mi-Jin Lee

  • 1Department of Applied Chemistry, Kyung Hee University, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 446-701, Republic of Korea.

Talanta
|April 20, 2013
PubMed

Insights

A novel microchip electrophoresis (ME) method enables ultra-fast DNA analysis for infectious diseases. This technique significantly accelerates the detection of small DNA molecules, improving diagnostic speed.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Biotechnology

Background:

  • Infectious diseases pose a significant global health challenge, necessitating rapid and accurate diagnostic tools.
  • Small DNA molecules, such as viral genes, are crucial biomarkers for identifying and monitoring infectious agents.
  • Conventional DNA separation techniques can be time-consuming, limiting their utility in time-sensitive diagnostic scenarios.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop an ultra-fast and precise microchip electrophoresis (ME) method for the separation of small DNA molecules relevant to infectious diseases.
  • To optimize ME parameters, including electric field strength and channel dimensions, for rapid DNA analysis.
  • To evaluate the performance of the developed ME method for high-throughput screening applications.

Main Methods:

  • Reverse transcript polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to amplify the spike glycoprotein (S) gene of the Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) virus as a model.
  • Single-channel microchip electrophoresis (ME) was performed using a 0.3% poly(ethylene oxide) sieving gel in TBE buffer.
  • A programmed step electric field strength (PSEFS) was applied, combined with a short effective channel length (1.3 cm), for rapid separation.
  • The method was scaled to a multi-channel ME system for high-throughput analysis.

Main Results:

  • The amplified FIP virus DNA (223-bp) was successfully separated within 10 seconds using the single-channel ME/PSEFS method.
  • The ME/PSEFS technique demonstrated a 50-fold increase in speed compared to conventional slab gel electrophoresis.
  • Multi-channel ME analysis exhibited high precision, with standard deviations of migration time and peak area below 1.0%, maintaining resolving power.
  • The developed ME assay is suitable for analyzing DNA fragments under 400-bp.

Conclusions:

  • The developed ultra-fast microchip electrophoresis method provides a simple, precise, and accurate approach for analyzing infectious disease-related DNA.
  • The high-throughput capability of the multi-channel ME system makes it suitable for rapid screening of infectious agents.
  • This advanced ME technique significantly enhances the speed of molecular diagnostics for infectious diseases.

More Related Videos

Real-time Tracking of DNA Fragment Separation by Smartphone06:58

Real-time Tracking of DNA Fragment Separation by Smartphone

Published on: June 1, 2017

Amplification of Escherichia coli in a Continuous-Flow-PCR Microfluidic Chip and Its Detection with a Capillary Electrophoresis System14:12

Amplification of Escherichia coli in a Continuous-Flow-PCR Microfluidic Chip and Its Detection with a Capillary Electrophoresis System

Published on: November 21, 2023

Related Concept Videos

Capillary Electrophoresis: Applications01:30

Capillary Electrophoresis: Applications

Capillary electrophoretic separations offer various modes, each with unique applications. These modes include capillary zone electrophoresis, capillary gel electrophoresis, capillary array electrophoresis, capillary isoelectric focusing, capillary isotachophoresis, micellar electrokinetic chromatography, and capillary electrochromatography.
Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) separates ionic components based on their electrophoretic mobility. It has been used to separate proteins, amino acids,...
Electrophoresis: Overview01:20

Electrophoresis: Overview

Electrophoresis is a powerful analytical separation technique that relies on the differential migration of charged species when subjected to an electric field. The core strength of electrophoresis lies in its ability to separate high-molecular-weight species in complex mixtures. It has found widespread use in biochemistry, molecular biology, and analytical chemistry, allowing the separation of compounds like amino acids, nucleotides, carbohydrates, and proteins with excellent resolution.
There...
Capillary Electrophoresis: Instrumentation01:20

Capillary Electrophoresis: Instrumentation

Capillary electrophoresis instrumentation typically consists of several key components. A high-voltage power supply generates the electric field necessary for the separation by connecting to an anode (the positively charged electrode) and a cathode (the negatively charged electrode) located in buffer reservoirs at each end of the capillary tube. The system includes a sample vial, a fused silica capillary tube coated with polyimide for mechanical strength through which the sample components...
Two-dimensional Gel Electrophoresis01:22

Two-dimensional Gel Electrophoresis

Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis is a high-resolution protein separation method first introduced by O' Farrell and Klose in 1975. This method involves protein separation by two dimensions, mass and charge, making it more accurate than one-dimensional gel electrophoresis.
The first dimension separation uses the isoelectric focusing or IEF technique performed on immobilized pH gradient (IPG) strips that separate proteins according to their isoelectric points.
Biological samples, such as  cells...
DNA Agarose Gel Electrophoresis02:35

DNA Agarose Gel Electrophoresis

Agarose gel electrophoresis is a laboratory technique commonly used to separate DNA fragments by size. However, it can also be used to isolate and purify DNA fragments using a gel extraction protocol.
Gel extraction follows five major steps: running gel electrophoresis to separate fragments, isolating the individual bands, extracting DNA from those bands, and removing the dye and salts from the extracted mixture to obtain pure DNA.
In cloning experiments, both the insert and vector DNA...