Microfluidic PCR chips.pdf

203Nano Biomed. Eng. 2011, 3(4), 203-210 Nano Biomed Eng ISSN 2150-5578 OPEN ACCESS J. Chen et al New views Microfluidic PCR Chips Abstract The microfluidic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) chips have undergone extensive development and nowadays have become an important domain of miniaturization technology application. Here, we review the advances of microfluidic PCR chips over the past years, from the first single chamber stationary PCR chip to the new SlipChip PCR. First, the three distinct types of microfluidic PCR chips are discussed, including chamber stationary PCR chips, flow-through PCR chips and convection PCR chips. Then we focus on droplet PCR chips and SlipChip PCR. Although they are at an early stage, they show the great potential for high-throughput PCR and robust chip. Finally, general discussions on integrated chips are given. The low cost, portable, high-throughout integrated PCR chips will certainly be further developed in spite of many challenges. Keywords:Chamber stationary PCR chip, Flow-through PCR chips, Convection PCR chip, Droplet PCR chip, SlipChip PCR, Integrated PCR chip Citation: J. Chen et al. Microfluidic PCR chips. Nano Biomed. Eng. 2011, 3(4), 203-210. DOI: 10.5101/nbe.v3i4.p203-210. Jingdong Chen1, Di Chen1*, Tao Yuan1, Xiang Chen2 1 National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Micro/Nano Fabrication Technology 2 Key Laboratory for Thin Film and Microfabrication of the Ministry of Education Research Institute of Mico/Nano Science and Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China * Corresponding author: dchen@ (Di Chen) 1. Introduction Since micro total analysis system (μ-TAS), also known as ‘‘lab-on-a-chip’’ was proposed in the early 1990s [1], microfluidic chip manufactured by microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology has been considered as a potential technology to miniaturize the conventional equipments and technologies. Because it offers advantages in terms of small volu