Shantanu Bhattacharya

Economy of Advanced Trainings Shantanu Bhattacharya

Micro-fluidic assays to quickly analyze miniaturized samples of nucleic acids are widely used for faster and accurate molecular identification/ gene sequencing. This has promoted a wide interest in point of care diagnostic devices (sometimes referred as "Lab on wheels"). Such devices have several advantages over conventional bench top systems like an overall reduction in size, reduced use of reagents, decreased power requirements, increased speed and accuracy of analysis, and increased portability for field use. This study is intended to realize a miniaturized DNA analyzer system to perform rapid molecular identification of bovine and porcine viral diseases. It consists of a micro-PCR chamber, micropumps, and micro-heaters. Additional components of the device include gel electrophoresis micro-channels and solid core waveguide fluorescence collectors. The intended analyzer is a micro-fluidic platform that is principally based on the three-step polymerase chain reaction (PCR) mechanism. All fluid handling on chip is realized by a set of discreet peristaltic pumps and a labview code is used to run a proportional, integral, differential (PID) controller for programmed operation of thermal cycling for the PCR device. The book is addressed to biomedical, micro-fabrication/micro-manufacturing researchers/engineers, biochemists, analytical chemists and companies involved in development of gene sequencing instrumentation.