FAQ
Which 2-D gel thickness should I use?
Either 1.0- or 1.5-mm-thick spacers can be used for all vertical formats. Thinner gels stain and destain more quickly and generally give less background staining. Thicker gels allow easier positioning of the IPG strip on the surface of the SDS gel and have higher protein capacity. Thicker gels are also less fragile and easier to handle.
How to avoid curved edges?
An alternative to using water-saturated butanol (to overlay the gels after casting) is to spray the cassettes using a 0.1 % (w/v) SDS/water solution (using a plant sprayer) such that the surface is covered by just a few millimeters. This technique helps to avoid curved edges on the gels.