The Effect of Charged Nanoparticles on the Separation of Proteins by Gel Electrophoresis

Currently, there is an interest in novel drug delivery systems, diagnostic capabilities and improving separation of biomacromolecules such as DNA and proteins. One possible approach is to add charged nanoparticles to the polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis system to observe the difference in, for example, protein separation efficiency. Another approach included creating templated pores by polymerizing a polyacrylamide gel with various macromolecules (including DNA, xanthan, and SDS) randomly dispersed throughout the gel and removed before performing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, which improved protein separation efficiency. In this project, polyacrylamide gels were successfully cast and crosslinked with well dispersed, charged nanoparticles of varying diameters (Southern Clay Laponite RD and an experimental Laponite) at a concentration of approximately 1% (w/w). The dispersion of the nanoparticles, or filler, is characterized by the visual clarity of the resultant gels, environmental scanning electron microscopy as well as X-Ray diffraction, provided by Southern Clay Products. The charged nature of the nanoparticles is expected to improve the protein separation efficiency of the polyacrylamide gel, by comparison to the analogous system where templated pores were introduced into the gel or regular manufactured gels. Future work could include, for example, modifying the current drug delivery systems to optimize the performance capabilities of pharmaceuticals.