Integrated chip‐based capillary electrophoresis

Abstract

Integrated capillary electrophoresis (ICE) is emerging as a new analytical tool allowing fast, automated, miniaturized and multiplexed assays, thus meeting the needs of the pharmaceutical industry in drug development. The current state-of-the-art of ICE is described with an emphasis on the choice of the support material (glass or polymeric materials), electrokinetic fluid handling, and injection and detection issues. Strategies and chip designs for pre- or post-column derivatization, DNA sequencing, on-line PCR analysis, on-chip enzymatic sample digestion, fraction isolation, and immunoassays are presented. The review concludes with a brief outlook.

Peer Reviewed: Polymeric Microelectromechanical Systems.

“…Many polymers are soluble, especially in organic solvents. For example, a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) device is inert to high concentrations of methanol; however, in acetonitrile, it will show the collapsing, swelling, and/or plugging of microstructures (4).…”

“…Several applications of MEMS devices using polymer-based substrates are presented. (Wet-etching in glass has been reviewed extensively [4,5]). …”

A microfluidic device for array patterning by perpendicular electrokinetic focusing

“…An alternative to hydrodynamic focusing is electrokinetic focusing in which electroosmotic-flow (EOF) is used as the fluid pumping mechanism instead of pressure driven flow. EOF is the motion of the bulk liquid in response to an applied electrical field in a capillary, which is extensively used in capillary-electrophoresis systems (Effenhause et al 1997). The usage of EOF implies several advantages compared with pressure driven systems: no valves or other moving parts are involved, which allows a simple chip structure and a fast and accurate switching between different flowrates.…”

Development of Microfabricated Capillary Array Electrophoresis Chip and Direct Observation of Dynamics of DNA Molecules Migrating in Microchannels

“…In the post human genome sequencing era, much attention has been focused on genomic function analysis and proteome analysis. Capillary electrophoresis and microfabricated CE chip will play a vital role in these research area [3][4][5][6][7]. Several difficulties are associated with the use of photolithography for the fabrication of high aspect ratio micro CE chip in quartz or glass substrate, whereas several researchers have demonstrated such devices.…”