INTEGRATED CHIP-BASED CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS

Integrated capillary electrophoresis (ICE) is emerging as a new analyt ical tool allowing fast, automated, miniaturized and multiplexed assay s, thus meeting the needs of the pharmaceutical industry in drug devel opment. The current state-of-the-art of ICE is described with an empha sis on the choice of the support material (glass or polymeric material s), electrokinetic fluid handling, and injection and detection issues. Strategies and chip designs for pre-or postcolumn derivatization, DNA sequencing, on-line PCR analysis, on-chip enzymatic sample digestion, fraction isolation, and immunoassays are presented. The review conclu des with a brief outlook.