Abstract
Possibilities of micro gel isoelectric focusing were discussed considering; 1) the advantages of gel electrophoresis, 2) the advantages of gel isoelectric focusing using carrier-ampholytes, and 3) the advantages of micro gel electrophoresis system for the rapid separation of functional proteins under non-denaturing conditions. The importance to develop liquid handling systems in sub-microliter level was stressed for the future separation systems of high-molecular-mass protein complexes, in which the 2-D gel size would be around 1 cm × 1 cm and all the separation processes should be automated.
