Design of disposable DNA biosensor microchip with amperometric detection featuring PCB substrate

Electrochemical detection (ECD) is one of the best means for designing a Lab-on-a-chip system especially for electroactive analyte's separation and detection applications like biomedical and in vitro diagnostic. Producing disposable biosensors is the key element in the recent research. Nevertheless, cost of the fabrication is the main obstacle against producing affordable and disposable microchips. In this paper, a workable DNA separation and detection microchip based on printed circuit board (PCB) substrates is presented. The new design will help producing lowcost Lab-on-a-chip devices for DNA or other electroactive diagnostic purposes. Experiments performed using standard DNA ladder produced results which are comparable with the conventional gel electrophoresis. With sensitivity consistently higher than 100 nA and separation time of approximately 30 min, this new design is an ideal tool for real DNA analysis.