Uploaded October 2019 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago
Time for another very common technique in the molecular biology lab: the sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis… or better known as SDS-PAGE.
Similar to the agarose gel electrophoresis (see previous TechThursday here: bit.ly/2owgYfx), which is used to separate DNA on a gel, with SDS-PAGE you can separate proteins on a gel. Here, the SDS molecules, which are charged➕➖, attach to the proteins. Therefore an electric field can make them move into one direction.The proteins are separated by size during the movement through the gel: small ones run get faster to the bottom of the gel, larger ones run slower. However, at the end of the gel run one cannot see the proteins yet. With the help of a dye that strongly binds to proteins, but not the gel, one can make the proteins visible.
This is commonly used to see whether a particular protein of interest is very strongly produced in a cell or whether a sample of purified protein is really pure 👩🏽🔬.
Have a nice Thursday! 👋🏽#NCCR #NCCRmse #Science #proteins #SDSPAGE
Time for another very common technique in the molecular biology lab: the sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis… or better known as SDS-PAGE.
Similar to the agarose gel electrophoresis (see previous TechThursday here: bit.ly/2owgYfx), which is used to separate DNA on a gel, with SDS-PAGE you can separate proteins on a gel. Here, the SDS molecules, which are charged➕➖, attach to the proteins. Therefore an electric field can make them move into one direction.The proteins are separated by size during the movement through the gel: small ones run get faster to the bottom of the gel, larger ones run slower. However, at the end of the gel run one cannot see the proteins yet. With the help of a dye that strongly binds to proteins, but not the gel, one can make the proteins visible.
This is commonly used to see whether a particular protein of interest is very strongly produced in a cell or whether a sample of purified protein is really pure 👩🏽🔬.
Have a nice Thursday! 👋🏽#NCCR #NCCRmse #Science #proteins #SDSPAGE
