Assembly for casting and use of an isoelectric focusing strip

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention resides in an assembly in which an isoelectric focusing (IEF) gel can be cast and used, the assembly offering the benefits of both a tube gel and a flat IEF strip and none of the disadvantages.
The assembly consists of a rod-shaped casting mold split longitudinally into two halves or half casting molds, each having a half-circle profile so that when the halves are combined along their flat contacting surfaces, the completed mold is tubular in shape with a circular cross section.
Grooves or indentations are cut into each of the two contacting surfaces, the grooves in direct opposition to one another to form a chamber of rectangular cross section extending the full length of the mold and open at both ends.
One groove receives a flexible backing strip for the gel and the interior of the other, when the two halves are combined, serves as the casting chamber for the gel.
The gel once cast in this chamber with the backing strip in place will adhere to the backing strip which can be grasped to remove the gel from the mold.
The circular cross section of the exterior of the combined halves of the assembly permits the assembly to be used in electrophoresis apparatus that is designed for a tube gel, i.
e.
, laboratory instrumentation that is designed to receive a tube gel in its tubular enclosure and to provide the electrical connections to the tube gel that are necessary for electrophoresis to take place.
The tube gel shape also permits the gel to be loaded with sample by the enhanced procedures that are used with tube gels, thereby permitting greater sample quantities to be loaded and sample loading to be accomplished in shorter periods of time.
The split-mold construction then enables the user to open the assembly after isoelectric focusing is completed and to easily remove and reposition the gel without touching the gel.
In preferred embodiments, the circular cross section extends less than the full length of the assembly, occupying instead only a segment beginning at one end of the assembly, the remaining length being a rectangular cross section to facilitate the sue of screws, clamps, or other means to secure the two halves together in a readily removable manner