Open AccessRepurposing a microfluidic formulation device for automated DNA construction
Author(s) -
Garima Goyal,
Nick Elsbree,
M.J. Fero,
Nathan J. Hillson,
Gregory Linshiz
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0242157
Subject(s) - microfluidics , computer science , lab on a chip , nanotechnology , software , dna , chip , dna microarray , computational biology , embedded system , biology , materials science , genetics , programming language , telecommunications , gene expression , gene
Microfluidic applications have expanded greatly over the past decade. For the most part, however, each microfluidics platform is developed with a specific task in mind, rather than as a general-purpose device with a wide-range of functionality. Here, we show how a microfluidic system, originally developed to investigate protein phase behavior, can be modified and repurposed for another application, namely DNA construction. We added new programable controllers to direct the flow of reagents across the chip. We designed the assembly of a combinatorial Golden Gate DNA library using TeselaGen DESIGN software and used the repurposed microfluidics platform to assemble the designed library from off-chip prepared DNA assembly pieces. Further experiments verified the sequences and function of the on-chip assembled DNA constructs.