Urbano-Gámez, J.D.; Perdigones, F.; Quero, J.M. Semi-Automatic Lab-on-PCB System for Agarose Gel Preparation and Electrophoresis for Biomedical Applications. Micromachines2021, 12, 1071.
Urbano-Gámez, J.D.; Perdigones, F.; Quero, J.M. Semi-Automatic Lab-on-PCB System for Agarose Gel Preparation and Electrophoresis for Biomedical Applications. Micromachines 2021, 12, 1071.
Urbano-Gámez, J.D.; Perdigones, F.; Quero, J.M. Semi-Automatic Lab-on-PCB System for Agarose Gel Preparation and Electrophoresis for Biomedical Applications. Micromachines2021, 12, 1071.
Urbano-Gámez, J.D.; Perdigones, F.; Quero, J.M. Semi-Automatic Lab-on-PCB System for Agarose Gel Preparation and Electrophoresis for Biomedical Applications. Micromachines 2021, 12, 1071.
Abstract
In this paper, a prototype of an automatic lab on PCB for agarose preparation and electrophoresis is developed. The dimensions of the device are 38×34 mm2 and includes a conductivity sensor for detecting the TAE buffer (Tris-Acetate-EDTA buffer), a microheater for mixing, a NTC thermistor for controlling the temperature, a LDR sensor for measuring the transparency of the mixture, and two electrodes for performing the electrophoresis. The agarose preparation functions are governed by a microcontroller. The device requires a PMMA structure to define the wells of the agarose gel, and to release the electrodes from the agarose. The maximum voltage and current that the system requires are 40 V to perform the electrophoresis, and 1 A for activating the microheater. The chosen temperature for mixing is 80ºC, with a mixing time of 10 min. In addition, the curing time is about 30 min. This device is intended to be integrated as a part of a larger lab on PCB system for DNA amplification and detection. However, it can be used to migrate DNA amplified in conventional thermocyclers. Moreover, the device can be modified for preparing larger agarose gels and performing electrophoresis in an automatic manner.
Keywords
Lab on PCB; Electrophoresis; Biomedical applications; Agarose
Subject
Chemistry and Materials Science, Electrochemistry
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
