title: An economic approach for construction of a multiplexed capillary electrophoresis system.
abstract: We describe in this report an economic approach to construct a multiplexed capillary electrophoresis (CE) system with optic-fiber UV detection. To demonstrate the feasibility of this approach, a seven-lane CE setup is built. The system has a background noise of approximately 10(-5) absorbance unit, a limit of detection of 3-4muM for uracil at 254nm, and a linear dynamic range of 2.5 orders of magnitude. The apparatus consists of three major components: a UV light source, a photodiode array (PDA) and optical module assembly, and a computer. Compared to the recently reported 96-lane capillary electrophoresis system with UV-vis absorbance detection, the cost of goods is reduced by more than 10-fold, and the noise level is improved by 2 to 3 folds. Parallel CE separations of a protein mixture have been performed on this apparatus, and reproducible and high resolution separation results have been obtained. Detailed construction and characterization of the system have also been discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University, Circle One Drive, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA.
authors.forename: Shaorong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Qiaosheng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Pu
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Joann
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu