Basic Research Of Efficient Flash Gel Electrophoresis

Gel electrophoresis is more and more popular in the biological and analytical laboratories due to its convenience and simpliness. Agarose gel electrophoresis and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis are the two most important gel electrophoresis technologies. Agarose gel electrophoresis is usually used to separate DNA, and poiyacrylamide gel electrophoresis is usually uesd to separate proteins.However, electric current produces Joule heat in the process of electrophoresis. Joule heat is related to the electeophresis voltage, that is, the Joule heat limits the electeophresis voltage. Usually, the maximum voltage of gel electrophoresis is about 5 v / cm. At the same time, electrophoresis voltage is inversely related to the electrophoresis time, so electrophoresis time is ofen more than one hour.The purpose of this experiment is to use an innovative cooling method to carry away the heat generated in the electrophoresis process and to shorten the run time by increasing the electrophoresis voltage.At the beginning of the project, we made cassttsse ourselves. A thermocool unit was used to cool the unit at near 0°C for outer refrigeration; an ice-water mixture was pushed through an inner tubing inside the gel for internal cooling. In the process of experiment, we found outer refrigeration could more fast carry away Joule heat by observation of gel temperature, therefore, we put foucs on outer refrigeration research. To decrease Joule heat in the process of electrophoresis, we uesd buffer vector instesd of making gel wholly immersed in the buffer. We found buffer vector is a good connection between electrode and gel, it could make electric current more stable. During the second part of the project, we designed two instrument models on basis of theroy research, and studied their cooling results, stability and application.By applying a cooling from outside refrigeration, it can be concluded that flash gel electrophoresis can be successfully carried out at an elevated high voltage of 120 V/cm and the electrophoresis time was significant shortened. It is feasible to use refrigeration to raise electrophoresis voltage and shorten the run time.