Integrated Microfluidic Systems for DNA Analysis. cell culture monitoring, cell lysis, DNA extraction, DNA/reagent mixing and DNA amplification

Indeed, the chances of reproductive success in such a vessel are higher than those when trying to have a baby by more traditional means. Now, such methods are beginning to change the practice of genetics. Many inborn illnesses, from PKU to cystic fibrosis, can be treated with some success. Such treatments deal with symptoms, rather than putting right the fundamental flaw — which is no more that what medicine does for most illnesses. Gene therapy gives hope of a cure. In its purest form, it offers the hope of replacing a faulty section of DNA with a normal equivalent, and putting right the problem at source. The idea is a powerful one: and nobody who accepts the necessity of inserting a new heart and lung can quarrel with the idea of replacing a piece of nucleic acid. Whatever its promise, gene therapy has, unfortunately, failed to live up to its headlines. In principle, the job ought to be if not easy, at least feasible. DNA can be inserted into cells in culture in many ways. Copies made in a laboratory are infiltrated with the help of a virus or wrapped in envelopes of fat that are accepted by the cell as its own ...»