Victor Ugaz,
Professor & Interim Department Head,
Texas A&M University
Victor M. Ugaz is a Professor and Interim Department Head in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University. He holds the title of Carolyn S. & Tommie E. Lohman '59 Professor in Engineering Education and serves as Chair of the interdisciplinary Master of Biotechnology (MBIOT) program. Dr. Ugaz’s research interests involve developing microfluidic systems to enable fast and inexpensive medical diagnostics and to understand the spontaneous organization of chemical building blocks essential to the origin of life.
Chemically Programmable Isothermal PCR Enables Rapid Nucleic Acid-based Bioanalysis at the Point of Need
Thursday, 5 October 2023 at 11:15
Add to Calendar ▼2023-10-05 11:15:002023-10-05 12:15:00Europe/LondonChemically Programmable Isothermal PCR Enables Rapid Nucleic Acid-based Bioanalysis at the Point of NeedLab-on-a-Chip and Microfluidics Asia 2023 in Tokyo, JapanTokyo, JapanSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and its variants are analytical gold standards for nucleic acid-based testing that play a critical role in diagnosing and monitoring infectious diseases. But robust portable PCR-based testing at the point of need (PON) remains elusive, especially in resource-limited settings, because the required thermocycling instrumentation is neither amenable to nor validated for operation in a portable format. This presentation describes a microfluidic platform that overcomes these barriers by exploiting the ability to perform isothermal PCR via natural convection. We apply “chemical programming” to manipulate the interplay between the PCR biochemistry and the microscale convective flow field, enabling 100% repeatability to be achieved in a format that can be easily and cost-effectively manufactured, dramatically increasing simplicity, portability, and affordability. We demonstrate rapid replication of targets associated with multiple pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2, attaining performance rivaling ultra-fast PCR instruments while using lower reagent concentrations than conventional protocols. This discovery paves the way for widespread adoption of PCR-based analysis at the PON, making it possible to bring lab-quality diagnostics to decentralized settings.
