Technology/Business Opportunity
Non-Confidential Description
University of California - Santa Cruz Campus
MACROMOLECULAR SEPARATOR
DESCRIPTION: Gel electrophoresis separates charged molecules in a
solution based upon their size using an electric field to drive their migration
through the gel. Long molecules of different sizes can require more than 24
hours to be adequately separated by this process. In addition, the size of
molecules that can migrate in the gel is limited. For example, DNA molecules of
the order of 10 million base pairs cannot migrate in the gel, and only 500 base
pair sequences may be processed by the commercially available apparatus for
automated gel electrophoresis.
Scientists at the University of California have designed a new method for
separating macromolecules by size that not only is faster than gel
electrophoresis but also separates uncharged molecules. Since the molecules
remain in solution after separation, they can be used in additional procedures
and tests or processed by the new method an indefinite number of times to
improve the accuracy of the separation. Furthermore, this new method does
not limit the size of the molecules that can be separated.
APPLICATIONS: Any industry or research lab that wants to separate
molecules in solution based upon size will find this new method more time
efficient and applicable to a wider variety of molecules than gel
electrophoresis.
ADVANTAGES: This new macromolecule separator has multiple advantages
including the following:
- molecules remain in solution after separation for additional processing
- time efficient
- works with charged and uncharged molecules
INQUIRIES TO: Kathy S. Willis, Licensing Associate
Tel: (510) 748-6600
Fax: (510) 748-6639
Email: kathy.willis@ucop.edu
REFERENCE: UC Case 95-242