It always amazes me when something pops in my email and turns out to be related to one of my latest postings. Today, Simon Fraser University sent me a news release about Paul Li and his lab-on-a-chip work where he’s trying to keep DNA strands separate. From the news release,
A Simon Fraser University chemist who pioneered lab-on-a-biochip technology six years ago has struck gold in the research world again, this time literally.
Paul Li has combined nanoscale-sized-particles of gold with two powerful tools in molecular biology to make DNA analysis more than 10 times faster at room temperature, rather than previously required higher temperatures.
Li has sped up gene identification by fusing the slide-like microarray’s ability to identify known DNA gene sequences with the multi-channel microfluidic device’s ability to quickly analyse small amounts of liquid.
The palm-sized hybrid biochip is roughly the same thickness as the Canadian Loonie.
But what really makes the invention a biomedical gold mine is the addition of gold nanoparticles to the liquid being analysed on it. Mixed with DNA, tiny spheres of gold act as mini magnets that adhere to each of the DNA’s twin strands.
When the DNA is heated, the two strands separate. The gold nanoparticles keep them apart, which enables scientists to probe each strand with other pieces of DNA that are engineered to recognize known gene sequences.
“The key benefit of the gold is that it allows us to do our analysis at room temperature (25 degrees C),” explains Li. “That is half the conventional temperature needed, which requires the use of an apparatus that tolerates high temperatures.
“More importantly, DNA sequences with slight differences are now differentiated by the nanoparticle, but not by the high temperature.”
This invention will revolutionize researchers’ ability to probe biological samples and detect genes for forensic analysis, disease detection and drug development.
I may have stretched this just a bit by calling anti-folding but this process which uses the gold nanoparticles to keep the DNA strands from adhering to each other contrasts with the work mentioned in today’s earlier post, Folding, origami, and shapeshifting and an article with over 50,000 authors, where DNA was used to keep ensure that carbon nanotubes don’t adhere to each other.