Fabrication and control of microfluidic devices for on-chip synthesis

Abstract

Introduction: In biological research today, there is great demand for synthesized biological compounds. The sequencing of the Human Genome has been completed, as well as that of many other organisms. Current work is now shifting towards the production of biological macromolecules. More specifically, this includes gene and genome synthesis from user-defined sequences. A series of A, T, G, and C nucleotides are specified in advance, and then constructed. Because of the error rates in perfectly synthesizing these specific DNA chains, it is more efficient to synthesize smaller oligonudeotide chains (oligos) and then allow them to self-assemble them into a larger oligos. These assembled chains are then brought together to form even longer chains, in a repeating process known as hierarchical assembly.