BIOMEMS-768 DNA Sequencer

The Whitehead Institute has developed an automated DNA sequencer that will go into final Genome Center testing during the summer of 2001. The system comprises a total of 768 separation channels distributed over two plates. The working elements are 50-cm × 25-cm, 384-lane microfabricated glass elements, which undergo alternating electrophoresis and regeneration under use with an exchangeable sieving matrix. The microfluidic and sample transfer devices needed to service the plates are integrated into the same compact instrument. Concurrently with the instrument development we have developed all the protocols, materials and surface preparations to achieve matrix-limited separations of single-stranded DNA in the microfabricated plate format.