Mini-Bioreactor for Protein Chips

This paper presents a novel design of mini-bioreactor with integrated functions, including temperature control, humidity control, and agitation control, for the biochemical reactions. The development of mini-bioreactors is important for the rapidly growing biochip researches. Since the structure of this module is simple, it offers many advantages over conventional ovens such as vast improvements in energy efficiency, enhancements in biochemical reactions, precise process control, and inexpensive fabrication cost. To verify the performance of mini-bioreactor, the immunoassay reactions were carried out using nitrocellulose protein chips. Under constant temperature and humidity, the effect of agitation on immunoassay reactions was investigated. It was discovered that agitation at lower vibrating frequency was indeed contributive to enhance the immunoassay reactions. It is a special function that the conventional ovens do not have.