Novex™ Tris-Glycine Mini Protein Gel, 4 to 20%, 1.0 mm, 1-well

The length of the well in the Invitrogen 1-well gels is 7.6 cm or 2.956 inches.

Find additional tips, troubleshooting help, and resources within our Nucleic Acid Purification and Analysis Support Center.

There may be too much beta-mercaptoethanol (BME), sample buffer salts, or dithiothreitol (DTT) in your samples. If the proteins are over-reduced, they can be negatively charged and actually repel each other across the lanes causing the bands to get narrower as they progress down the gel.

Find additional tips, troubleshooting help, and resources within our Protein Electrophoresis and Western Blotting Support Center.

Gel straightness is defined as the straightness across all lanes of the gel, measured at the bottom, expressed relative to the total length of the gel. For example, a gel with straightness of 0.020 Rf is flat to within 2% of the length of the gel (1.6 mm) across. Band curvature is defined as the curvature of the bands in the outer lanes of the gel, expressed relative to the total length of the gel. For example, bands with curvature of 0.010 Rf are straight to within 1% of the length of the gel (0.8 mm).

Find additional tips, troubleshooting help, and resources within our Protein Electrophoresis and Western Blotting Support Center.

The QC of our gels includes several processes:

1) Each gel is checked by eye for visible anomalies.

2) Under defined conditions, gels retained from each lot are tested as follows:

--When gels are run at a defined voltage, the resulting current and power of the electrophoresis are measured.

--Protein samples are electrophoresed on test gels to determine the gel run time and the protein band quality after electrophoresis. Bands are examined for: straightness within bands, curvature of bands across the gel ("smiling" or "frowning"), and reproducibility of the Rf values for protein molecular weight markers. According to these results, a Certificate of Analysis is created, which is available upon request.

Find additional tips, troubleshooting help, and resources within our Protein Electrophoresis and Western Blotting Support Center.

The most common cause of abnormally high current is the transfer buffer. If the transfer buffer is too concentrated, this leads to increased conductivity and current. High current may also occur if Tris-HCl is accidentally substituted for the Tris base required in the transfer buffer. This will again result in low buffer pH and lead to increased conductivity and current and subsequently, overheating. We recommend checking the transfer buffer and its reagent components and re-diluting or remaking the buffer.

Find additional tips, troubleshooting help, and resources within our Protein Electrophoresis and Western Blotting Support Center.