Development of Biological Microchips on an Aluminum Support with Cells Made of Brush Polymers

Abstract

A method has been developed for manufacturing biological microchips on an aluminum substrate with hydrophilic cells from brush copolymers with the formation of a matrix of cells using photolithography. The surface of aluminum substrates was previously coated with a thin, durable, moderately hydrophobic layer of cross-linked polymer to prevent contact with the aluminum surface of the components used in the analysis of nucleic acids. Aluminum biochip substrates have high thermal conductivity and low heat capacity, which is important for the development of methods for multiplex PCR analysis on a chip. Oligonucleotide probes were covalently immobilized in the cells of the biochip. The preservation of the hybridization activity of the immobilized DNA probes was demonstrated in a hybridization analysis with a synthetic DNA target representing a section of the sequence of the seventh exon of the human ABO gene. The methods developed can be used in the development of a technology for parallel multiple rapid microanalysis of nucleic acids “lab on a chip” for the detection of human somatic and infectious diseases.