A Lab-on-a-Chip For The Extraction Of Bacterial Nucleic Acids From Whole Human Blood

Abstract

We present a lab-on-a-chip for the extraction of bacterial nucleic acids from whole human blood (WHB). Compared to classical methods, with extraction times between hours and days, the presented chip can lyse the bacteria suspended in WHB and extract their nucleic acids within three minutes. This is achieved by directly coupling thermal lysis to gel-electrophoresis on a single microfluidic platform.