The Optimization of Electrophoresis on a Glass Microfluidic Chip and its Application in Forensic Science

Microfluidic chips offer significant speed, cost, and sensitivity advantages, but numerous parameters must be optimized to provide microchip electrophoresis detection. Experiments were conducted to study the factors, including sieving matrices (the concentration and type), surface modification, analysis temperature, and electric field strengths, which all impact the effectiveness of microchip electrophoresis detection of DNA samples. Our results showed that the best resolution for ssDNA was observed using 4.5% w/v (7 M urea) lab-fabricated LPA gel, dynamic wall coating of the microchannel, electrophoresis temperatures between 55 and 60°C, and electrical fields between 350 and 450 V/cm on the microchip-based capillary electrophoresis (μCE) system. One base-pair resolution could be achieved in the 19-cm-length microchannel. Furthermore, both 9947A standard genomic DNA and DNA extracted from blood spots were demonstrated to be successfully separated with well-resolved DNA peaks in 8 min. Therefore, the microchip electrophoresis system demonstrated good potential for rapid forensic DNA analysis.

Concurrent DNA Preconcentration and Separation in Bipolar Electrode-Based Microfluidic Device

This paper presents a bipolar electrode (BPE) device in a microfluidic dual-channel design for concurrent preconcentration and separation of composite DNA containing samples. The novelty of the present effort relies on the combination of BPE-induced ion concentration polarization (ICP) and end-labeled free-solution electrophoresis (ELFSE). The ion concentration polarization effect arising from the faradaic reaction on the BPE is utilized to exert opposing electrophoretic and electroosmotic forces on the DNA samples. Meanwhile, end-labeled free-solution electrophoresis alters the mass-charge ratio to enable simultaneous DNA separation in free solution. The microfluidic device was fabricated using standard and soft lithography techniques to form gold-on-glass electrode capped with a PDMS microfluidic channel. Experimental testing with various DNA samples was carried out over a range of applied electric field. Concentration ratios up to 285× within 5 minutes for a 102-mer DNA, and concurrent preconcentration and free-solution separation of binary mixture of free and bound 102-mer DNA within 6 minutes was demonstrated. The effect of applied electric field was also interrogated with respect to pertinent performance metrics of preconcentration and separation.

Nafion Film Based Micro-nanofluidic Device for Concurrent DNA Preconcentration and Separation in Free Solution

This paper presents a Nafion film based micro-nanofluidic device for concurrent DNA preconcentration and separation. The principle of the device is based on the combination of (a) ion concentration polarization phenomenon at the junction of the microchannel and the nanochannels in the Nafion film to form opposing electrophoretic and electroosmotic forces acting on the DNAs, and (b) end-labeled free solution electrophoresis to harness the charge-to-mass ratio for molecular differentiation. The experiments successfully demonstrated concurrent preconcentration and separation of DNA mixture in free solution within 240s, yielding concentration ratios up to 1,150X and separation resolution of 1.85. The effect of applied electric field on the concentration and separation performance was also investigated. The device can be used as a key sample preparation element in conjunction with micro- or nano-fluidic sensors for microTAS functionality.

CGE-laser induced fluorescence of double-stranded DNA fragments using GelGreen dye

Nowadays, new solutions focused on the replacement of reagents hazardous to human health are highly demanded in laboratories and Green Chemistry. In the present work, GelGreen, a new nonhazardous DNA staining reagent, has been assayed for the first time to analyze double-stranded DNA by CGE with LIF detection. The effect of GelGreen concentration on S/N ratio and migration time of a wide concentration range of standard DNA mixtures was evaluated. Under optimum GelGreen concentration in the sieving buffer efficient and sensitive separations of DNA fragments with sizes from 100-500 base pairs (bp) were obtained. A comparison in terms of resolution, time of analysis, LOD, LOQ, reproducibility, sizing performance, and cost of analysis was established between two optimized CGE-LIF protocols for DNA analysis, one based on the dye YOPRO-1 (typically used for CGE-LIF of DNA fragments) and another one using the new GelGreen. Analyses using YOPRO-1 were faster than those using GelGreen (ca. 31 min versus 34 min for the analysis of 100-500 bp DNA fragments). On the other side, sensitivity using GelGreen was twofold higher than that using YOPRO-1. The cost of analysis was significantly cheaper (ninefold) using GelGreen than with YOPRO-1. The resolution values and sizing performance were not significantly different between the two dyes (e.g. both dyes allowed the separation of fragments differing in only 2 bp in the 100-200 bp range). The usefulness of the separation method using GelGreen is demonstrated by the characterization of different amplicons obtained by PCR.

Rapid and High-Throughput Forensic Short Tandem Repeat Typing Using a 96-Lane Microfabricated Capillary Array Electrophoresis Microdevice*

A 96-channel microfabricated capillary array electrophoresis (muCAE) device was evaluated for forensic short tandem repeat (STR) typing using PowerPlex 16 and AmpFlSTR Profiler Plus multiplex PCR systems. The high-throughput muCAE system produced high-speed <30-min parallel sample separations with single-base resolution. Forty-eight previously analyzed single-source samples were accurately typed, as confirmed on an ABI Prism 310 and/or the Hitachi FMBIO II. Minor alleles in 3:1 mixture samples containing female and male DNA were reliably typed as well. The instrument produced full profiles from sample DNA down to 0.17 ng, a threshold similar to that found for the ABI 310. Seventeen nonprobative samples from various evidentiary biological stains were also correctly typed. The successful application of the muCAE device to actual forensic STR typing samples is a significant step toward the development of a completely integrated STR analysis microdevice.

Recent advances in the applications of CE to forensic sciences (2001–2004)

The present article reviews the applications of CE in forensic science covering the period from 2001 until the first part of 2005. The overview includes the most relevant examples of analytical applications of capillary electrophoretic and electrokinetic techniques in the following fields: (i) Forensic drugs and poisons, (ii) explosive analysis and gunshot residues, (iii) small ions of forensic interest, (iv) forensic DNA and RNA analysis, (v) proteins of forensic interest, and (vi) ink analysis.