DNA Analysis in Nanochannels

Nanofluidic channels have been proven to be a powerful tool for visualization of genetic and other types of information along DNA molecules. In contrast to DNA sequencing it provides long-range information (>100 kb), however, at the cost of lower resolution set by the diffraction limit of the optical detection to approximately 1kb. This type of analysis, referred to as optical DNA mapping, has been used for DNA identification, genome assembly and structural variation characterization across diseases like infections and cancer.

Nanofluidic channels have also been used for DNA analysis regarding both fundamental polymer physics and for analysing protein-DNA interactions, for example in DNA repair, on the single DNA molecule level.

We will give a fairly comprehensive overview covering technical aspects (device fabrication, fluidics, detection, analysis), examples of use ranging from fundamental polymer physics to applied biomedical assays, and current challenges along with an outlook of future developments.