An electrothermal micromixer for molecular analysis

Author

Sin, Mandy L Y ; Gidwani, Vinay ; Gau, Vincent ; Wong, Pak Kin

Author_Institution

Dept. of Aerosp. & Mech. Eng., Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

fYear

2009

fDate

5-8 Jan. 2009

Firstpage

827

Lastpage

831

Abstract

Diffusion is often the rate-limiting step in microfluidic-based biochemical analysis systems. In this paper, an alternative current electrothermal mixer for molecular diagnostic is presented. The mixer consists of a concentric electrode design integrated in a microfluidic cartridge. We investigated the electrothermal flow by visualizing the trajectories of seeded particles. The velocity shows a fourth power voltage dependence and is most efficient in the range of 200-600 kHz. By optimizing the design and operating conditions, we demonstrated enhancement of DNA hybridization with a 60-fold reduction in total assay time.

Keywords

DNA; bioMEMS; biochemistry; microfluidics; mixers (circuits); molecular biophysics; 60-fold reduction; DNA hybridization; concentric electrode design; diffusion; electrothermal flow; electrothermal micromixer; frequency 200 kHz to 400 kHz; microfluidic cartridge; microfluidic-based biochemical analysis systems; molecular analysis; Biochemical analysis; DNA; Design optimization; Electrokinetics; Electrothermal effects; Mechanical engineering; Microfluidics; Temperature; Thermal conductivity; USA Councils; biosensor; electrothermal flow; fluidic manipulation; lab-on-a-chip; micromixer;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems, 2009. NEMS 2009. 4th IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Shenzhen

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4629-2

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-4630-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NEMS.2009.5068704

Filename

5068704