Bead-Based Miniature Microfluidic Systems for Rapid RNA Extraction and Reverse Transcription

The current study presents a new integrated microfluidic chip for rapid ribonucleic acid (RNA) purification, extraction and reverse transcription (RT) in an automatic fashion. The miniature system consists of two individual functional devices including a two-way microfluidic control module and a magnetic field/temperature control module. The functional microfluidic control module can perform pumping, mixing, purification and concentration of the RNA samples by incorporating with the magnetic bio-separator consisting of 2-dimension twisted microcoils. Notably, the magnetic bio-separators are developed either to perform the separation of magnetic beads or to control the temperature field for the subsequent RT process. Experimental results showed that the total RNA was successfully purified and extracted by the magnetic beads, and the subsequent RT process of RNA was completed automatically. As a whole, the developed system may provide a powerful platform for biomedical application and biological analysis.