Noncovalent, Near-Infrared Labels as Facilitators of Protein Determination by Capillary Electrophoresis

Wake Forest University, Winston Salem NC

Investigators

Abstract

Professor Christa Colyer of Wake Forest University is supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program to perform studies on the use of noncovalent dye labels for protein detection by Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) after seperation by capillary electrophoresis (CE). LIF detection requires labeling of proteins with fluorescent dyes. The proposed work aims to label proteins noncovalently using dyes that are excited by near infrared photons, allowing the eventual use of cheap laser diodes aboard microchip CE. Seperation and quantitation of proteins, epecially from ultrasmall volumes, represents a particular challenge in analytical chemistry. CE requires only nanoliters of sample and so is appropriate for investigating the fluids of single cells. The methods are of great use in the investigation of proteomics.