A Texas graduate student has created a pocket-sized, battery-operated device capable of replicating DNA strands.
The portable instrument, with a bill of materials in the neighborhood of $10, can create identical copies of a DNA strand in as little as 20 minutes. Comparable laboratory equipment in use today costs thousands of dollars and typically takes several hours to generate DNA replicas.
According to an article in New Scientist magazine, the ability to generate billions of DNA copies quickly and cheaply could revolutionize healthcare in developing nations, where the technology is too costly for widespread use. The process of replicating DNA strands using polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) are useful for conducting tests such as diagnosing or monitoring the progression diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and cancer.
The PCR device created by Texas A&M University graduate student Nitin Agrawal works on a principal similar to a lava lamp, according to Agrawal's team leader Victor Ugaz, an assistant professor of chemical engineering. The PCR process requires heating and cooling a fluid containing sample DNA strands to precise temperatures, triggering separation, reformation, then replication of the DNA material. Agrawal's device places the fluid in a coil of metal tubing, with various sections heated to the proper temperatures. The fluid rises in the coil as it is heated, then drops as it cools and becomes denser and heavier.
The invention was published in the April 30 edition of the academic journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
The portable instrument, with a bill of materials in the neighborhood of $10, can create identical copies of a DNA strand in as little as 20 minutes. Comparable laboratory equipment in use today costs thousands of dollars and typically takes several hours to generate DNA replicas.
According to an article in New Scientist magazine, the ability to generate billions of DNA copies quickly and cheaply could revolutionize healthcare in developing nations, where the technology is too costly for widespread use. The process of replicating DNA strands using polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) are useful for conducting tests such as diagnosing or monitoring the progression diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and cancer.
The PCR device created by Texas A&M University graduate student Nitin Agrawal works on a principal similar to a lava lamp, according to Agrawal's team leader Victor Ugaz, an assistant professor of chemical engineering. The PCR process requires heating and cooling a fluid containing sample DNA strands to precise temperatures, triggering separation, reformation, then replication of the DNA material. Agrawal's device places the fluid in a coil of metal tubing, with various sections heated to the proper temperatures. The fluid rises in the coil as it is heated, then drops as it cools and becomes denser and heavier.
The invention was published in the April 30 edition of the academic journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
