Patent ID: 8148066

Claim:
A method of nucleic acid hybridization, comprising the steps of: (1) providing a test nucleic acid and a nucleic acid probe labeled with a detectable marker that is capable of generating a signal; (2) mixing the test nucleic acid and the nucleic acid probe for base pairing and obtaining a mixed solution; (3) providing a hybridization device having a hybridization region installed with a porous substrate that has a pore diameter ranging from 0.01-50 μm and is a positively charged nylon membrane, the hybridization region being connected to at least one first inlet/outlet hole and at least one second inlet/outlet hole, respectively, wherein the hybridization device is a microfluidic chip; (4) feeding the mixed solution obtained from step (2) into at least one of the at least one first inlet/outlet hole to flow the mixed solution through the porous substrate so that the test nucleic acid is absorbed onto the porous substrate, and flowing the mixed solution that has passed through the porous substrate out from at least one of the at least one second inlet/outlet hole; (5) providing a washing solution that is a salt solution effective to remove the nucleic acid probe that is unhybridized to the test nucleic acid from step (2) from the porous substrate, feeding the washing solution into at least one of the at least one first inlet/outlet hole to flow the washing solution through the porous substrate, and flowing the washing solution that has passed through the porous substrate out from at least one of the at least one second inlet/outlet hole to remove the nucleic acid probe that is unhybridized to the test nucleic acid from step (2); and (6) detecting the signal generated by the detectable marker of the nucleic acid probe that is hybridized to the test nucleic acid on the porous substrate after step (5).