Quantification of false positive reduction in nucleic acid purification on hemorrhagic fever DNA.

Columbia University has developed a sensitive highly multiplexed system for genetic identification of nucleic acid targets. The primary obstacle to implementing this technology is the high rate of false positives due to high levels of unbound reporters that remain within the system after hybridization. The ability to distinguish between free reporters and reporters bound to targets limits the use of this technology. We previously demonstrated a new electrokinetic method for binary separation of kb pair long DNA molecules and oligonucleotides. The purpose of this project 99864 is to take these previous demonstrations and further develop the technique and hardware for field use. Specifically, our objective was to implement separation in a heterogeneous sample (containing target DNA and background oligo), to perform the separation in a flow-based device, and to develop all of the components necessary for field testing a breadboard prototype system