Communications

DOI: 10.1002/anie.200700306
Microreactors

A Pocket-Sized Convective PCR Thermocycler**

Nitin Agrawal, Yassin A. Hassan, and Victor M. Ugaz*
The ability to make technologies for rapid diagnosis of Despite these advances, the timescales required to perform a
infectious disease broadly available in a portable, low-cost typical reaction generally remain on the order of hours—a
format would mark a revolutionary step forward in global rate much slower than would be expected on the basis of
public health.[1, 2] A critical challenge to these efforts is that a kinetics alone. This is because conventional thermocycling
large segment of the population that is most in need of these instruments typically employ a hot-plate design consisting of a
advances resides in locations that offer limited or nonexistent metal block whose high heat capacity, combined with the
laboratory infrastructure.[3, 4] At the same time, many diag- relatively low thermal conductivity of the plastic tubes or
nostic assays rely on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), multiwell plates used to contain the reagents, severely limits
which requires thermocycling instruments that are relatively achievable heating and cooling rates. Consequently, the
slow and consume considerable electrical power to perform majority of time and electrical power consumed is expended
repeated heating and cooling steps.[5] Herein, we introduce an regulating the temperature of the instrument6s structural
innovative thermocycling system that harnesses natural con- components rather than driving the reaction.
vection phenomena to amplify DNA rapidly by the PCR in a Buoyancy-driven natural convection phenomena offer an
greatly simplified format. A key element of this design is an attractive way to overcome these limitations. By applying a
architecture that allows the entire thermocycling process to static temperature gradient across an appropriately designed
be actuated pseudo-isothermally by simply maintaining a reactor geometry (e.g., a cylindrical cavity or closed loop), a
single heater at a constant temperature, thereby enabling a continuous circulatory flow can be initiated that will repeat-
pocket-sized battery-powered device to be constructed at a edly transport PCR reagents through temperature zones
cost of about US$10. These devices are straightforward to associated with each stage of the reaction.[8–11] This arrange-
design and build, easy to operate, and uniquely address a ment is highly advantageous because the need for active
critical need for expanded availability of PCR-based diag- heating and cooling is eliminated, which greatly simplifies
nostics. instrument design. Furthermore, rapid thermocycling is
The PCR continues to be an indispensable tool in a achievable since reagents quickly attain local thermal equi-
diverse array of genomic analysis applications including librium as they travel through the temperature field. Despite
medical diagnostics, pathogen and infectious disease detec- this promise, the development of convective thermocycling
tion, forensics, population-scale polymorphism, and mutation technology has not yet advanced beyond the proof-of-concept
studies.[6, 7] The development of capabilities to amplify long level, with results obtained over a very limited range of
targets (> 1 kb) and to coamplify multiple targets simulta- template and target sizes (without multiplex capability) and
neously (multiplex PCR) has further extended the inherently employing instrument designs that are cumbersome for
robust capacity of the PCR for efficient DNA replication. routine use.[12–15] Herein, we show that these shortcomings
can be addressed through the design of simplified closed-loop
[*] Dr. N. Agrawal,[+] Prof. V. M. Ugaz convective thermocyclers capable of rapidly amplifying a
Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering wide range of targets in both single and multiplex formats.
Texas A&M University First, we illustrate the basic concept in a thermocycling
College Station, TX 77843 (USA) device constructed by positioning two thermoelectric heaters
Fax: (+ 1) 979-458-1002
along the perimeter of a fluoropolymer tubing loop that
E-mail: [email protected]
follows a triangular path (Figure 1 a and the Supporting
Prof. Y. A. Hassan
Information). PCR reagents are pipetted directly into 9-cm-
Department of Nuclear Engineering
Texas A&M University long tubing segments and then the free ends are joined
College Station, TX 77843 (USA) together by a small sleeve of larger diameter tygon tubing to
[+] Present address: yield a loop that is affixed around the heater assembly. The
Center for Engineering in Medicine/Department of Surgery heaters are independently adjusted to maintain denaturation
Massachusetts General Hospital (95 8C) and extension (72 8C) temperatures across the two
Shriners Burns Hospital and inclined legs, while the horizontal leg passively attains
Harvard Medical School annealing conditions (ca. 58 8C). In this way, thermocycling
Boston, MA 02114 (USA)
is passively actuated by the unidirectional convective flow
[**] This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health under
generated in response to the imposed thermal gradient (the
grants K22-HG02297 and R01-HG003364. We thank Prof. Mihir Sen
for helpful discussions regarding modeling the convective flow. We heater temperatures are held constant during the reaction).
are also grateful to Ling Zhen for assistance with computational- The fluoropolymer tubing used to construct the flow loops is
flow simulations. stable at high temperatures (up to 205 8C) and is chemically
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW inert, which eliminates the need for surface pretreatment
under http://www.angewandte.org or from the author. processes that are often required to minimize nonspecific

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 Angewandte
Chemie

speeds in 10-, 16-, and 25-mL closed-loop reactors (same

length but different diameters of tubing) with corresponding
cycling times of 102, 69, and 42 s, respectively (flow velocities
in the loops scale with tubing diameter). Amplification of a
191-bp target with a 25-mL loop was detectable by agarose gel
analysis after as little as 10 minutes of reaction time (Fig-
ure 1 e). Smaller-volume flow loops (i.e., constructed from
smaller-diameter tubing) deliver longer cycling times and
produce detectable products in 20–30 minutes (see the
Supporting Information). This level of speed and versatility
is comparable to that achievable in many advanced thermo-
cyclers, but in a format that offers an exceptional degree of
electronic and mechanical simplicity.
Next, we demonstrate how the convective thermocycling
concept can be adapted for use in portable diagnostic
applications by introducing a pocket-sized device incorporat-
ing three aluminum blocks, each corresponding to one of the
three PCR temperature zones. Thermal interconnections
(e.g., screws made from materials of different thermal
conductivity) are incorporated to regulate the heat flow
between blocks so that when the denaturing block is heated to
95 8C, the remaining blocks passively attain the desired
annealing and extension conditions (Figure 2 a and the
Supporting Information). This arrangement makes it possible
to actuate the entire thermocycling process pseudo-isother-
mally by simply maintaining a single heater at constant
temperature (i.e., 95 8C). Furthermore, the temperatures at
each stage of the reaction can be independently adjusted by
purely mechanical means (by appropriate selection of screw
size, material, and number of screws), which significantly
Figure 1. Design and performance of a simplified convective thermocy-
cler. a) Thermocycler assembly constructed with a fluoropolymer reduces the cost and complexity. Another feature of this
tubing reactor and scaffold incorporating two thermoelectric heaters design is that the 72 8C extension zone is structured to occupy
(see the Supporting Information for a photograph and more detailed the largest fraction of the loop perimeter to promote
description). g = direction of gravity. b–e) Agarose gel electrophoresis amplification of longer targets (> 1 kb). We incorporated
analysis of PCR products from different template/target combinations this architecture into a prototype by employing a simple on–
under various thermocycling conditions. M = marker. b) Multiplex off temperature control circuit that allows the entire device to
amplification of five different human respiratory infection associated
be powered by two AA-size batteries (Figure 2 b). Despite its
virus targets in 50 minutes with a 16-mL flow loop. c) Coamplification
of 1.3-kb l-DNA and 242-bp L32 gene targets in 50 minuntes with a simplicity and low cost (hardware costs approximately
16-mL loop. d) Coamplification of 191-bp influenza virus and 242-bp US$10; disposable tubing costs only a few cents per reaction),
L32 gene targets in 50 minutes with a 16-mL loop. e) Amplification as a a 1.3-kb target can be amplified from a l-DNA template in
function of reaction time for a 191-bp target associated with mem- 50 minutes with a 7-mL reaction volume (Figure 2 c).
brane channel proteins M1 and M2 of the influenza-A virus with a Finally, we present a simplified analytical model that
25-mL flow loop.
highlights the underlying physics and establishes general
design criteria for convective-loop thermocyclers. The key
physical parameters that influence convective-loop flows
binding interactions in many miniaturized PCR systems.[16–17] become evident by first noting that the magnitude of the
No modifications to standard reaction protocols are neces- destabilizing buoyant forces relative to the thermal and
sary, and the tubing is optically transparent, which makes it viscous restoring forces can be expressed in terms of a
amenable for use in real-time PCR applications. dimensionless Rayleigh number Ra = (g cosq)b(DT)D3/nk.
The versatility of this convective-flow thermocycling Here, g cosq is the component of gravitational acceleration
system is demonstrated by its ability to amplify a multiplex acting along the flow direction (i.e., q is the angle that a
mixture of targets associated with five different respiratory segment of the flow loop makes with respect to the vertical),
viruses in 50 minutes with a 16-mL flow-loop reactor (Fig- DT is the temperature difference imposed between the two
ure 1 b). Simultaneous coamplifications were also performed heaters, D is the tube diameter, and b, k, and n are fluid
in mixtures containing primers and template for a 1.3-kb properties (thermal-expansion coefficient, thermal diffusivity,
target from a l-DNA template and a 242-bp human L32 gene and kinematic viscosity, respectively). Consequently, the
target (Figure 1 c), as well as 191-bp influenza-A virus and magnitude of Ra (and hence the flow velocity) increases
242-bp human L32 gene targets (Figure 1 d) in 50 minutes with increasing DT and with increasing tube diameter, which
with a 16-mL loop. Finally, we characterized amplification is consistent with data obtained by monitoring fluorescent

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2007 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim www.angewandte.org 4317
Communications

Figure 3. Experimental and computational analysis of the convective

flow in the triangular loop configuration depicted in Figure 1 a. Average
Figure 2. A pocket-sized battery-powered convective thermocycler. flow rates were measured by observing the motion of fluorescent
microsphere tracers, and 2D flow simulations were performed by
a) Design schematic depicting three blocks joined by thermal intercon-
using FLUENT software. a) Volumetric flow rate as a function of the
nections (i.e., screws of different thermal conductivity) that regulate
heat flow such that when the denaturing block is heated to 95 8C, the temperature difference applied between heaters (DT) and the reactor
volume (volumes of 10, 16, and 25 mL correspond to tubing diameters
remaining blocks passively attain the desired reaction temperatures.
The 72 8C block is larger to allow extension to occur during a greater of 320, 400, and 510 mm, respectively). b) Flow data plotted as a
function of cycle time follow a scaling that allows the points to
fraction of time in each cycle. See the Supporting Information for a
collapse onto a master design curve. The temperature dependence of
photograph and more detailed description. b) The assembled PCR
thermocycler shown with accompanying temperature-control circuit. As fluid properties b, k, and n is accounted for in these calculations;
reactor volumes are determined from the tubing length and inside
the design in (a) makes it possible to perform the reaction by
maintaining a single heater at constant temperature, the entire device diameter; q = 308.
can be powered by two AA-size batteries. c) Products from two
independent amplifications of a 1.3-kb target from a l-DNA template
in 50 minutes with a 7-mL loop in the device shown in (b).
Experimental Section
Thermocycler construction (see the Supporting Information for
further details): Convective-flow loop reactors were constructed by
using 9-cm lengths of thin-wall fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP)
microsphere tracers inside the flow loops (Figure 3 a). Under tubing (Zeus Industrial Products, Inc.). Loops were constructed from
PCR conditions, average flow velocities of approximately 0.9, three different tubing diameters: inside diameter 320, 400, and
1.3, and 2.1 mm s 1 were obtained in 10-, 16-, and 25-mL loops, 510 mm (28-, 26-, and 24-gauge sizes), corresponding to reactor
respectively. volumes of 10, 16, and 25 mL, respectively. Lengths of tubing were
filled with PCR reagents and then the two open ends were joined
Over the range of flow conditions of interest for PCR,
together by using a short sleeve of tygon tubing.
analysis of the momentum and energy-balance relationships After being loaded, the loops were mounted on a fixture
for the case of a loop geometry symmetric about the vertical incorporating two independently controlled thermoelectric Peltier
centerline (e.g., the triangular configuration in Figure 1 a) heaters (Melcor Corporation) positioned on an aluminum scaffold
suggests that Ra should scale with uD/k (u is the average designed to create a triangular flow path. The flow loops were affixed
velocity; see the Supporting Information). This scaling is directly to the heater surfaces by using aluminum adhesive tape
evident when cycling times determined both from flow (Axygen Scientific) to ensure thermal contact and a uniform temper-
visualization experiments and from computational simula- ature distribution. Flat thermocouple probes (Model #SA1-(K),
Omega Engineering, Inc.) were affixed to the heater surfaces to
tions are plotted versus the parameter LD/kRa (L is the loop
monitor their temperature. The heaters were independently main-
length): data for various reactor volumes collapse onto a tained at 95 8C (denaturing) and 72 8C (extension), while the third
single curve (Figure 3 b). This relationship permits strategic (annealing) arm of the loop passively attained a temperature of 58 8C.
design of reactors that satisfy virtually any combination of The two Peltier heaters were powered by independent external DC
volume and cycling time. power supplies, and temperatures were maintained by manually

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 Angewandte
Chemie

adjusting the input power to each heater. At an ambient temperature Inc.). Standard 50-mL reaction mixes contained H2O (34 mL), 5 M
of 22 8C, the input power requirement was 3.1 V at 660 mA and 1 V at Phusion HF buffer (10 mL), 10 mm dNTP (1 mL), primers (2.5 mL),
460 mA for heaters at 95 8C and 72 8C, respectively. A ceramic fiber l-DNA control template (2 mL, 0.5 ng mL 1), and Phusion DNA
insulation strip was wrapped around the triangular assembly to polymerase (0.5 mL, 2 units mL 1). The remainder of the reaction
reduce heat loss and to insulate the loop from ambient temperature protocol was identical to that described above.
fluctuations.
A battery-powered three-block thermocycler was constructed Received: January 23, 2007
and operated in a similar fashion, except that one of the blocks was Published online: April 30, 2007
fitted with a resistance cartridge heater (Omega Engineering) and
thermocouple probes were inserted into each block to monitor the
temperature in each reaction zone. The blocks were interconnected
by threaded screws of materials with different thermal conductivities
.
Keywords: analytical methods · DNA replication ·
microreactors · molecular biology · polymerase chain reaction
(e.g., nylon and stainless steel) such that the temperature in each zone
could be set by simply inserting the appropriate number of screws
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respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), 315-bp corona virus, 390-bp Christian, K. D. Ness, J. Ortega, L. G. Li, T. H. Weisgraber, K.
influenza virus, 484-bp adenovirus, and 547-bp rhino virus) (Catalog Goodson, F. Milanovich, Anal. Chem. 2004, 76, 4011.
#MP-70178). Standard 50-mL reaction mixes contained optimized [14] Z. Chen, S. Qian, W. R. Abrams, D. Malamud, H. Bau, Anal.
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(1 mL), and AmpliTaq polymerase (0.25 mL, 5 units mL 1; Applied [16] M. G. Roper, C. J. Easley, J. P. Landers, Anal. Chem. 2005, 77,
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