Detection of DNAs by Using Dual Packed Polystyrene Bead-Quantum Dots in a Microfluidic Chip

Abstract

The semiconductor nanocrystals (or quantum dots) have shown peculiar optical and electrical properties due to their exceptionally small size. In recent years, tremendous researches on quantum dots have been carried out. Among them, QDs as sensing media for biological assay have achieved a great progress. Recently we have reported the detection of DNAs by using fluorescence quenching of QDs after DNA hybridization. Several oligonucleotides and human genomic genes could be detected. In this report we used dual packing of polystyrene bead-quantum dots to detect different kinds of DNAs simultaneously. QDs with different emission peaks were used. Carboxylated-CdSe/ZnS QDs (emission: 525, 605 nm) could bind to microbeads of polystyrene/divinyl benzene via EDC/NHS cross-linking reaction. Polystyrene bead-QDs with different colors were packed in the channel of the microfluidic chip. The fluorescence quenching from the QDs by intercalating dye was observed after hybridization of exon 6 and 7 of p53 gene at the weir in the channel of microfluidic chip. The simultaneous fluorescence quenching of the QDs by PI and TOTO-3 were observed.