High Efficiency Sample Transfer Between IEF and SDS-PAGE Separations on a Miniaturized Proteomics Chip

We present a novel sample transfer technique that enables highly efficient and automated sample transfer between the first (IEF, isoelectric focusing) and the second (SDS-PASGE, sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis) separations steps. The miniaturized 2-DE device can run the two separations in a single analysis, thus avoiding the manual workflow of the conventional 2-DE devices. Total analysis time for the miniaturized IEF + SDS-PASGE is less than two hours, as compared to the 12-48 hours for traditional 2-D gel electrophoresis. The miniaturized 2-DE instrument is able to perform rapid separation of various biological samples, e.g. determination of glycosylation differences of hemoglobin Alc to diagnose the level of blood glucose in diabetes patients.