PCR Test Chip Chamber Structure for Multiplex Fluorescence Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing PCR technologies lack sensitivity in detecting fluorescence intensity and are limited to qualitative analysis, with real-time PCR devices requiring complex optical systems and unable to perform simultaneous detection of multiple target genes.
Innovation Solution
A PCR test chip with a two-stage reaction chamber structure and interconnected flow paths that accommodate reagents, allowing for multiple reagents to react with a sample, enhancing fluorescence detection sensitivity and enabling simultaneous detection of multiple target genes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a complex optical detection system is used to detect fluorescence intensity, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a camera or digital camera to capture fluorescence images instead of complex optical detection systems. The camera creates a visual copy or representation of the fluorescence signal, allowing quantitative analysis through image processing while avoiding the complexity of specialized optical detection equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical/optical detection systems with a simpler camera-based imaging system. Instead of using sophisticated optical components to measure fluorescence intensity, the system uses a camera to capture images that can be analyzed computationally, substituting mechanical/optical complexity with computational simplicity.
2Productivity
If multiple target genes are detected simultaneously, then productivity is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs a single PCR chip and camera system that can detect multiple target genes simultaneously. The reaction chamber accommodates multiple reagents for different target genes, and the camera captures fluorescence signals from all targets in a single imaging operation, allowing one system to perform multiple detection functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple detection functions into a single integrated system. Multiple reagents for different target genes are combined in the same reaction chamber, and the camera system captures all fluorescence signals simultaneously, merging what would traditionally require separate detection systems into one unified apparatus.
3Device complexity
If reagents are accommodated in a single chamber, then device complexity is reduced, but measurement precision deteriorates due to fluorescence intensity dilution
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the reaction chamber into multiple distinct regions or compartments within a single chamber structure. Each segment can contain different reagents for different target genes, allowing concentrated fluorescence signals from each reagent while maintaining an overall simple single-chamber design. This segmentation prevents signal dilution while avoiding complex multi-chamber systems.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The PCR test chip improves sensitivity and accuracy of fluorescence detection by concentrating fluorescence intensity and preventing reagent mixing, enabling reliable detection of multiple target genes with a single sample injection.
Implementation Method 1
an extension (or amplification) step of, after the annealing step, maintaining the sample solution at an activation temperature of DNA polymerase, for example, 72° C., such that a double-stranded DNA is formed based on the primer of the partial DNA-primer complex by using the DNA polymerase
Implementation Method 2
detecting fluorescence intensity that is proportional to the concentration of an amplified genetic material
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test chip and a PCR test device including the same. The PCR test chip includes: a body unit made of a light-transmitting material and including an inlet through which a sample is injected; a reaction chamber including a first chamber part recessed from a lower surface of the body unit toward an upper surface of the body unit, and recessed in a first region from the lower surface, and a second chamber part in which a reagent is accommodated, being further recessed than the first chamber part toward the upper surface of the body unit with a step difference from the first region inside the first region; and an inflow path that connects the inlet to the reaction chamber and guides the sample into the reaction chamber.