Team:BostonU HW/Transformation

BostonU_HW

Transformation
Transformation

Summary

Bacterial transformation is a commonly used protocol in synthetic biology. It can be used for a variety of functions, such as testing whether or not a genetic circuit is functional. Transformation allows bacterial cells, such as Escherichia coli, to take in and express external DNA fragments. Transformation consists of heat shock to damage cells and promote the taking up of external plasmids, recovery to prevent cells from dying, and a final culturing. From there, cells are analyzed.
This microfluidic chip is designed to perform transformation. Suspended cells and plasmid are metered on the chip and are then mixed together. The solution then undergoes heat shock in a time-dependent mixing element for exactly 30 seconds. The solution can then be pipetted out from the chip into a recovery tube on ice.

This chip has been milled and tested, but not deemed fully fluid functional as of this time. For a more complete understanding of the chip, click the download button in order to access its CNC millable SVG files, JSON file, full device documentation and PNG files of its flow and control layers.

Testing

This following video shows a test of the chip using colored water. This is to show the functionality of the chip. No biological material was inserted into this chip.