A novel system is proposed for the rapid identification of DNA. The system comprises of a unique thermocycler platform built around the extraordinary vortex tube, detection optics, intelligent software to provide users with information on most ideal operating conditions, and virtual insight into the PCR process as it progresses. An intelligent user interface will allow DNA amplification/detection on an unprecedented timescale (less than 10 minutes). A multi-disciplinary team that consists of a chemical engineer, a mechanical engineer, and two biochemists has been assembled for this project. The efficiency of the vortex tube will be optimized by the use of computational fluid dynamics. Heat transfer between the gas phase and the cuvets will be improved through computational fluid dynamic calculations. The intelligent software consists of a detailed mathematical model that uses similar starting conditions as the initial cuvet composition to model the amplification progress and it performs a virtual PCR in parallel with the actual process. The virtual PCR will become a quantitative tool point-of-care diagnosis of a wide variety of heritable and infectious diseases. The virtues of the intelligent vortex tube PCRJet are: speed, versatility, reliability, portability and low cost.
| Pienaar, E; Theron, M; Nelson, M et al. (2006) A quantitative model of error accumulation during PCR amplification. Comput Biol Chem 30:102-11 |
