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

Zhang, Chunsun; Xing, Da

One of the main challenges in miniaturization of PCR is the integration of functional components to perform several operations without the need of external macro apparatus or manual operation. With the advance of the PCR chips, more and more on-chip PCR systems have been developed. Lien et al. reported a device which could accommodate the following operations: virus loading, virus capture, virus purification, cell lysis, plus RT and stationary PCR (48) . In addition, micropumps, microvalves, micromixers, microcoils, film-resistive heaters and film temperature sensors were integrated on the chip. Another system developed by Hashimoto et al. possessed following capabilities: continuous-flow PCR, LDR and hybridization (60) . Other integrated PCR chips have also been investigated (see Table 2 ). The stationary chamber PCR seems to be preferred for integrated systems when compared to the continuous-flow PCR system. This might be due to an increased simplicity in sample handling and structure designing for the former system. The most commonly integrated physical elements are filmresistive heaters, film-temperature sensors, micropumps and microvalves (see Table 2 ).