Supporting data for "Development of Nucleic Acid-Based Tools for Pathogen Diagnostics and Real-Time RNA Imaging Using Droplet-based Microfluidics"

The research is on developing a point-of-care system for detecting pathogenic nucleic acids using digital droplet PCR or LAMP amplification techniques. This was possible using PDMS chips integrated with a heating system controlled by Arduino. The second part of the project is on high-throughput screening of RNA at-tamers that bind to a specific ligand with high fluorescence intensity. Millions of random DNA sequences were screened using fluorescence activated droplet sorting (FADS) and the best at-tamers were selected and screened.

本研究致力于开发一款采用数字液滴PCR（digital droplet PCR）或环介导等温扩增（Loop-mediated isothermal amplification, LAMP）扩增技术的病原核酸床旁检测系统。该系统依托集成有Arduino控制加热系统的聚二甲基硅氧烷（Polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS）芯片完成开发。本项目的第二部分内容为高通量筛选可与特定配体特异性结合并呈现高荧光强度的RNA适配体（RNA aptamers）：研究通过荧光激活液滴分选（fluorescence activated droplet sorting, FADS）技术对数百万条随机DNA序列进行筛选，最终遴选出最优适配体并完成复筛。