Amine Lambarqui
University:
Gradation Date: May 2008
Hometown:
My Project: Microfluidic chips and microwave PCR for DNA amplification
This project had been initially sponsored by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) in an effort to have NIST come up with a faster, reliable way to do PCR for DNA analysis. This is due to thousand of criminal cases out there waiting DNA profiling. The goal of this project is to use microwave to heat up PCR samples with the use of micofluidic chips. These types of chip are starting to get more attention lately due to their tremendous potential in Science. Using Microfluidic chip we can apply the concept of lab-on-a chip, which allow integrating many laboratory functions into one small portable device. A lab-on-a-chip has many advantages including reagent consumption reduction, more accurate data, and less loss and contamination of samples. The PCR project here at EEEL aims to perfect the use of these types of chips to optimize the use of PCR by microwave. This would allow shortening the process of PCR that normally take more than 2 hours for each run. PCR is a technique wildly used for DNA profiling such as, paternity testing, detection of mutation and infectious diseases, cloning, sequencing to name a few. Here at the semiconductors division of EEEL, we fabricate the chips in the fabrication lab, prepare the PCR sample in Biolab, and run microwave-PCR testing in the MEMS lab. This project includes multidisciplinary filed such as Electrical Engineering, Physics, Biology, and Chemistry. It is a privilege for an undergraduate student like my self to have the opportunity to be involved in this particular project.
Thank you so very much.