Miniature Devices for Electrophoretic Sample Preparation

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of this project is to design a practical prototype device to permit widespread use of an invention which will enable simple, rapid, inexpensive sample preparative separations by electrophoresis. Applicable analyte applications include simple ions, organic compounds, macromolecules, viruses and even bacteria. The primary emphasis is on the development of a useful new tool for sample pre-purification and complexity reduction, as a complement to higher resolution separations which are often gated by interfering substances. As such, the proposed device would provide an electrophoretic technique analogous to solid phase extraction and thin layer chromatography. The planned research seeks to optimize the device design to result in the most cost effective configuration of elements to maximize flexibility of application, simplicity and speed of use, economy, purity of target analyte, and, to a lesser degree, recovery. 3D CAD/CAM design will be used to rapidly produce first machined and then molded prototype device elements. Performance will be tested using binary mixtures of a charged and a neutral organic dye. The overall Aim of the Phase I project is to develop a modular prototype device with disposable inserts which can simply and rapidly (less than 10 minutes total time) recover a majority of methyl orange from a mixture at > 99% purity.