Study of Long DNA Dynamics in Hybrid Startup Flows

The study of long DNA dynamics shows promising insight in both the fundamental research and process practice in rheology and polymer manufacturing. Visualizing DNA molecule dynamics (coil-stretching transition) in startup flow has been done in the past decade in both hydrodynamics-driven flows and electrokinetics-driven flows. The current technologies are quite inconvenient and difficult in the control of flow startup. In this study, we introduce a new approach to highly simplify such challenges with a combination of two different types of flow. The flow startup can be switched on/off frequently to study the DNA dynamics in a controlled manner. The conformation of lambda DNA and its coil-stretching dynamics in such a hybrid flow field is is analyzed under different flow conditions for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids.