Microchip electrophoresis for UVC-induced DNA damage assessment

Abstract

In this thesis a design is presented which main objectives are to improve the speed, sensitivity and resolution of the commonly used gel electrophoresis method. To this end a background study is performed to look at the differences and similarities between both gel and micro-chip electrophoresis. Based on these findings some calculations are done to see if the expected design can theoretically improve in the above mentioned fields. A design is created and later fabricated in order to obtain these objectives. For the design a glass substrate is used with integrated electrodes, combined with a PMT sensor system to process the signals from the chip via a computer program. The main techniques used for the fabrication are wet etching and wafer bonding. The testing results produce a clear signal, which shows improvements in sensitivity and resolution, as well as producing results in less than three minutes.