Electrophoresis Technology

Electrophoresis is the phenomenon in which charged particles move toward an electrode opposite to their charge under the influence of an electric field. This phenomenon was first observed by Russian professors Peter Ivanovich Strakhov and Ferdinand Frederic Reuss in 1807.

Under an applied electric field, at a certain pH, charged molecules migrate at different speeds for a certain period of time depending on their specific charge and size, concentrating in a specific position. This is the basic principle that proteins/DNA can be separated, analyzed and identified by electrophoresis, which also leads to its most common application.

Fig.1 Illustration of the principle

Electrophoresis can be divided into Zone Electrophoresis and Moving Boundary Electrophoresis according to whether a supporting medium is needed.

Fig.2 Types of Electrophoresis

Zone Electrophoresis

Zone electrophoresis involves the migration of charged molecules in a buffer solution with a supporting medium. A small volume of sample is applied as a narrow band and the components are separated into discrete zones on the supporting medium.

Paper Electrophoresis

Using filter paper as the supporting medium. Due to its simplicity, ease of operation and certain accuracy, paper electrophoresis has emerged as a common, cheap and accurate laboratory method for various research and clinical studies.

Thin Layer Electrophoresis

Using a thin layer of silica or alumina as the supporting medium. Thin layer electrophoresis features less time consuming and higher resolution, and is widely used in combined electrophoretic-chromatography studies in two-dimensional study of proteins and nucleic acid hydrolysates.

Cellulose Acetate Electrophoresis

Using cellulose acetate films as the supporting medium. Cellulose acetate film electrophoresis is simple, rapid and cheap with good resolution. That’s why it has been widely used to analyze and detect serum proteins, hemoglobin, glycoproteins, enzymes, peptides and other biological macromolecules.

Gel Electrophoresis

Using gel as the supporting medium. Depending on the type of gel, it can be divided into starch gel, agarose gel, and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Gel electrophoresis is simple, fast and accurate, so it has become a common method for many molecular biology studies.

Moving boundary electrophoresis involves the migration of charged molecules in a free-moving solution without a supporting medium.

Isotachophoresis

Charged particles move at the same velocity in isotachophoresis. It is used for selective separation and concentration of ionic analytes. The sample pretreatment is simple or unnecessary, and the operating conditions can be flexibly changed according to the requirements. Therefore, it is especially suitable for biochemical analysis.

Isoelectric Focusing

In a particular pH gradient, proteins are separated by differences in their isoelectric points (pI). Because of its high resolution and sensitivity, isoelectric focusing is widely used in the separation of peptides and proteins, and research in taxonomy, enzymology, cytology and immunology.

Capillary Electrophoresis

Utilizing a capillary as the separation channel and a high voltage direct current field as the driving force to separate the molecules, capillary electrophoresis provides greater resolution, higher sensitivity and online detection. It enables single-cell analysis and even single-molecule analysis, optimizing separation and analysis of biological macromolecules.

Immunoelectrophoresis

AGAR electrophoresis and two-way AGAR diffusion are combined in immunoelectrophoresis to analyze the composition of antigens. It combines the high specificity of antigen-antibody reaction with the rapidity, sensitivity and high resolution of electrophoresis, which is a basic immunological technique widely used in biomedical research.

Key Products

Electrophoresis Products

We provide a comprehensive range of high-quality electrophoresis systems, electrophoresis accessories and consumables, and analytical equipment to assist you in conducting a wide variety of electrophoresis experiments and analyzing experimental results. Choose our electrophoresis products depending on your experiment's purpose and needs.

STEMart provides you with a variety of electrophoresis equipment or consumables to meet your various R&D and application needs. If you have any questions or requirements for electrophoresis, please feel free to contact us.

Electrophoresis Technology

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