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Teris C. N. Liu
           

Ph.D. Candidate, Chemical Engineering

B.S. in Chemical Engineering from UCLA

 

         
           

I am a sixth year graduate student from the Chemical Engineering department. I am co-advised by Professor Richard Mathies in the Chemistry department and Professor Roya Maboudian in the Chemical Engineering department. My current project is focused on developing a 96 PCR-CE (Polymerase Chain Reaction- Capillary Electrophoresis) micro-plate for more efficient and massively parallel DNA analysis.

The advantages of performing PCR and CE on a micro-plate over their conventional counterparts have already been shown in the works of Eric Lagally and Brian Paegel in our group. With the successful demonstration of a single integrated PCR-CE device by Eric, my first task is to improve his current vent/valve system to develop an easy-to-fabricate and a highly parallel vent/valve system to achieve a 96 PCR-CE device on a chip. To date, I have successfully developed a PDMS membrane valve, which met the criteria mentioned above. Next step is to investigate the different combinations vent/valve systems for the PCR reaction chamber.

Figure 1:
Top left: 3-D schematic of a PDMS membrane valve
Bottom left: Cross-sectional schematic of a PDMS membrane valve
Top right: Breakdown pressure of the PDMS membrane valve
Bottom right: Flow characteristic of the PDMS membrane valve



Figure 2: Schematic of a 96 Sample PCR-CE Microprocessor

           

References and Publications

William H. Grover, Alison M. Skelley, Chung N. Liu, Eric T. Lagally and Richard A. Mathies. Monolithic membrane valves and diaphragm pumps for practical large-scale integration into glass microfluidic devices. Sensors and Actuators B, 89 (3), 315-323, (2003).
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William H. Grover, Alison M. Skelley, Chung N. Liu, Eric T. Lagally and Richard A. Mathies. Practical valves and pumps for large-scale integration into microfluidic analysis devices. Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium on Micro Total Analysis Systems, Nara, Japan, November 3-7, 2002.

Richard A. Mathies, Eric T. Lagally, Toshihiro Kamei, William H. Grover, Chung N. Liu and James R. Scherer. Capillary array electrophoresis bioprocessors. Proceedings of the Solid-State Sensor, Actuator and Microsystems Workshop, Hilton Head, South Carolina, June 2-6, 2002, p. 112-117.

Paegel, B. M., Emrich, C. A., Wedemayer, G. J., Scherer, J. R., and Mathies, R. A. High-Throughput DNA Sequencing with a Microfabricated 96-Lane Capillary Array Electrophoresis Bioprocessor, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 99: 574-579 (2002).
[Abstract] [Full Text in HTML] [Full Text in PDF]

Lagally, E.T., Emrich, C.A., and Mathies, R.A. Fully Integrated PCR-Capillary Electrophoresis Microsystem for DNA Analysis, Lab on a Chip 1: 102-107, 2001.
[Abstract] [Full Text in HTML] [Full Text in PDF]

Mathies, R. A., Lagally, E.T., Kamie, T., Grover, W.H., Liu, C.N., Scherer, J.R. (2002). Capillary Array Electrophoresis Bioprocessors. Solid-State Sensor, Actuator and Microsystems Workshop, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.