Akay, Metin2017-07-172017-07-17May 20172017-05May 2017http://hdl.handle.net/10657/1887We have developed a micrometer scale thick electrophoresis system based on polyethylene glycol dimethylacrylate (PEGDA, Mn = 750) to separate nucleic acids. Using photo-polymerization, we fabricated PEGDA hydrogel attached to cover glass that is robust, easily handled and comparable to agarose gels in DNA band detection. Optimization parameters including PEGDA concentration, UV exposure time, voltage, run-time and hydrogel thickness were determined and optimized for PEGDA-750 to enable the separation of standard DNA ladder bands ranging from 250 to 1000 base pairs. Our optimized method for creating PEGDA hydrogels is capable of performing DNA electrophoresis and holds promise for being further developed as a platform for detecting specific ranges of nucleic acids. This study enhanced parameters surrounding DNA band separation and brightness, and refined fabrication methods. PEDGA hydrogels hold potential to be a highly customizable alternative to agarose gels because of their distinct photo- polymerization fabrication method and attachment to cover glass.application/pdfengThe author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).Gel electrophoresisHydrogelPEGPEGDAPolyethylene glycolPhoto-polymerizationCross-linkingAgaroseGel2017-07-17Thesisborn digital