Miniaturized PCR chips for nucleic acid amplification and analysis: latest advances and future trends

Zhang, Chunsun; Xing, Da

Our survey of recent literatures on miniaturized PCR chips concludes that such PCR chips have been well developed and have found important applications in miniaturization techniques. The autonomous or quasiautonomous high-speed implementation of nucleic acid amplification and analysis in the case of a small-volume biological sample will provide continued impetus for the development and improvement of miniaturized PCR chips. Although the PCR chip provides many advantages over the conventional PCR device, the miniaturization also raises some challenging issues. Thus, many problemsolving strategies are required to tackle challenges such as adsorption of the reagents to the chip surface, being prone to evaporation of the sample solution and formation of gas bubbles, the requirement of precise temperature control and the patent dispute. Despite these obstacles, the potential of miniaturized PCR, as a future nucleic acid amplification and analysis tool, is still attractive. As the development of PCR chips continues, newly designed microstructures should make a full use of the better MEMS procedures to meet the requirements of each bioassay procedure to enable them to be widely customized to accomplish specific bioassays.