In-Check system: A highly integrated silicon Lab-on-Chip for sample preparation, PCR amplification and microarray detection of nucleic acids directly from biological samples

This work represents the first step toward the integration of sample preparation, nucleic acids amplification and DNA microarray detection into a simple and fast silicon Lab-on-Chip system. In particular, we report the experimental results for the detection of the human beta-globine gene (HBB) directly from defined numbers of cultured human cells and whole blood in less than 2 h. The influence of PCR inhibitors was also evaluated when the detection was performed on whole blood.