Zygem has announced several developments supporting the advancement of its integrated microfluidics platform designed to decrease the time, complexity and cost of conducting DNA testing.
At the 21st International Symposium on Human Identification (ISHI), researchers from Zygem's Microlab unit and the company's collaborators presented three sets of studies illustrating how the component elements of the prototype RapID system act to speed the DNA analysis process.
RapID, which Zygem is developing in collaboration with Lockheed Martin, uses Microlab's advanced microfluidic research to accelerate the DNA identification process - essentially building a laboratory on a microfluidic chip that reduces the processing steps, time and effort needed for analysis.
PCR amplification is the most time consuming of conventional DNA analysis steps, taking two or more hours.
One of the studies presented at ISHI showed how the Zygem system conducts PCR amplification up to 10 times more rapidly than conventional approaches, primarily by using infrared-mediated microchip PCR to reduce the time required for thermal cycling and holding.
This study also demonstrated that compared to conventional PCR, infrared-mediated microchip PCR used far less reagent, required less sample and was compatible with commercially available short tandem repeat (STR) amplification kits.
A second study at ISHI demonstrated that rapid microfluidic separations using the Zygem approach could be performed on two different detection systems using a plastic microchip, rather than the conventional glass microchip.
The researchers concluded that the much less costly plastic microchips worked as well as their glass counterparts and could substantially decrease the overall cost of the analysis.
A third ISHI study assessed the overall performance of the prototype integrated microfluidics-based RapID DNA analysis system Zygem is developing with Lockheed Martin.
It showed that the multistep process for conventional forensic STR analysis requiring 8-10 hours was completed by the RapID system in less than 60 minutes, extracting DNA from crude samples in as little as four minutes and completing the PCR amplification process in less than 40 minutes, using commercially available reagents.
The data presented supported the capability of the integrated system to produce rapid, automated, 'sample in-answer out' genetic analyses for accurate human identification, using standard buccal swab samples.
Zygem also announced that chief executive Paul Kinnon will participate in the opening keynote session at the 2nd Annual Lab-on-a-Chip World Congress, speaking on the challenges of developing an integrated microfluidic platform for forensic DNA and diagnostic applications and how Zygem is addressing them.
