Manufacturing improvement and thermal property characterization of the frame structure of an Ultra-high Throughput Mutational Spectrometer

Abstract

Constant denaturant capillary electrophoresis (CDCE) is a DNA separation technique that allows the detection of mutants at a fraction of 10̄⁻⁶. CDCE uses a region of constant temperature and constant denaturant concentration to separate fragments with distinct melting points. The concept of the Ultra-high Throughput Mutational Spectrometer (UTMS) will perform massively parallel CDCE on a 100 by 100 capillary array. A modular aluminum structure was designed for the instrument to provide a chamber to house the array and modulate the flow of coolant, providing temperature control. The first iteration of the structure experienced leakage problems, which this project rectified. The structure was also modified to interface with a gel loading mechanism below, and the LED fluorescent excitation array above. The current subunit will enable the testing the complete UTMS system. In addition, an immersion heater was installed in the water-tight structure to simulate the 200 to 275 W heat dissipation within the chamber, caused by Joule heating in the capillary array. Correlation of a theoretical model to experimental data characterized and verified the transient thermal response of the system.