COUNTERACTING FLOW ELECTROPHORESIS - A TECHNIQUE FOR SEPARATING BIOCHEMICALS OR CHARGED MACROMOLECULES

A method for fractionating solutions of charged biochemicals or macrom olecules is described. The technique, entitled counteracting flow elec trophoresis (CAFE), utilizes parallel electric and fluid flow fields a pplied within a porous solid barrier to accomplish a separation based on differences in the electrophoretic mobility of the dissolved molecu les. A prototypical separation of hemoglobin from bovine serum albumin demonstrated the recovery of a 90+% pure protein with a 20% Yield. Im provements in both purity and yield are discussed in terms of barrier characteristics and the intensities of the electrical and flow fields. Barrier characteristics that strongly affect the separation are pore size and thickness.