Abstract
Micro total analysis system is a chip size device with many functions for chemical and biochemical analysis integrated in micro channels. It can be a powerful tool to realize highly accurate and sensitive analyses with a small amount of samples. In our previous study, we developed DNA separation chip utilizing micro-fence structures fabricated in a micro channel. The separation was achieved by the principle of size exclusion chromatography (SEC). To improve the resolution of DNA separation, we added nano-slit structures in the channel. The nano-slit is the channel with nanometer-sized depth, which is much smaller than the size of DNA molecules to separate. By using the nano-slit as a filter, we achieved pre-concentration of DNA samples. Since the pre-concentration was conducted just before the separation, we expected the improvement of the resolution of DNA separation. In this study, we verify the effect of pre-concentration on the resolution of separation experimentally. Experimental results showed that the pre-concentration was effective and it enabled us to separate DNA molecules of 2 kbp and 10 kpb with the micro fence structures.
