New Dimension Research and Instrument (NDR), proposes to make a glass-based BioChip system, a unique platform for acquiring, analyzing and managing complex genetic information. This innovative glass-based chip, and its associated chip reader are able to real- time monitor DNA hybridization by using molecular beacon dye and a matrix-addressable electrical field for precise control of chemical reactions. The glass-based BioChip uses a self-addressable, self- assembling micro-electronic system, which can actively carry out and control multi-step and multiplex reactions in microscopic formats. By using our molecular beacon in which only exactly matched DNA pairs will be fluorescent, (unmatched pairs will not fluoresce), we can real-time monitor the hybridization process. Moreover, the chemical washing in the hybridization process will be eliminated. We will demonstrate and develop a method and a device for detecting low copy numbers of nucleic acid target by combining 1) high specificity of molecular beacon for selective hybridization, 2) high sensitivity detector near the fluorescent probe, and 3) electric field for selectivity hybridization.
BioChip technology enables researchers and clinicians to analyze large amounts of genetic information more rapidly and efficiently than was ever before possible, which can precisely determine infection, non-infection, and genetic diseases. The system has been developed as a tool to help understand the human genome and to improve the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of diseases, such as cancers, TB, HIV, HB, etc.
