my recent articles |
| Mini DNA replicator could benefit world's poor |
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1 May 2007, for New Scientist A pocket-sized device that runs on two AA batteries and copies DNA as accurately as expensive lab equipment has been developed by researchers in the US. The device has no moving parts and costs just $10 to make. It runs polymerase chain reactions (PCRs), to generate billions of identical copies of a DNA strand, in as little as 20 minutes. This is much faster than the machines currently in use, which take several hours.  The DNA-copying device runs off two AA batteries (Image: Victor Ugaz/Angewandte Chemie)"I hope this will make PCR more available," says Victor Ugaz of Texas A&M University in Texas, US, whose group made the new device. He says the system could enable DNA-based tests to be carried out in the field or in developing countries, where large, expensive laboratory equipment is neither practical nor affordable. Running a PCR requires treating DNA strands, along with chemical materials needed to make new DNA strands, at three different temperatures. The highest temperature (95°C) causes two strands of a DNA molecule to separate. The lowest temperature (60°C) makes DNA building blocks stick together. Then, holding the temperature in the middle (72°C), allows an enzyme to quickly assemble replica DNA strands. Read the rest of the story on New Scientist's website. |