Microfabricated capillary array electrophoresis DNA analysis systems

Microfabricated "laboratory-on-a-chip" systems are revolutionizing all aspe cts of genetic analysis. The development of capillary array electrophoresis (CAE) microchannel plate devices makes possible the performance of 96 or m ore high-speed separations in parallel on a single wafer-scale device. The fluorescently labeled DNA samples are detected within the microchannels wit h a novel four-color rotary confocal fluorescence scanner. The capabilities of this system for genotyping are demonstrated through multiplex separatio ns of short tandem repeat and hereditary haemochromatosis allele-specific a mplicons. Furthermore, with newly developed folded channel designs that mai ntain high resolution, these CAE microplate systems are used to perform 96 high-quality DNA sequencing separations in parallel to similar to 500 bases per capillary in less than 30 min. These densely packed microfabricated de vice technologies will facilitate the even more rapid collection of vast am ounts of genetic data in the future. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rig hts reserved.