Patent ID: 7179357
Filing Date: 2007-02-20
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
1. A method of performing electrophoresis, the method comprising the steps of: a) providing an electrophoretic system comprising a capillary electrophoresis gel, the gel having a loading end and an elution end; b) selecting more than one sample, each sample comprising polynucleotides of different sizes, each polynucleotide having an electrophoretic mobility that corresponds to its size wherein the smallest polynucleotide in a sample has the fastest electrophoretic mobility and the largest polynucleotide in a sample has the slowest electrophoretic mobility; c) loading a first sample onto the loading end of the gel at time T d) performing electrophoresis on the first sample; e) loading a second sample onto the loading end of the gel at a first predetermined time prior to T f) loading a third sample onto the loading end of the gel at a second predetermined time and performing electrophoresis on the third sample such that the polynucleotide with the slowest electrophoretic mobility in the second sample migrates past a detection window in the electrophoretic system before the polynucleotide with the fastest electrophoretic mobility in the third sample migrates past the detection window; g) sequentially loading additional samples onto the loading end of the gel at predetermined times and performing electrophoresis on each sample such that polynucleotide with the slowest electrophoretic mobility from each preceding sample migrates past the detection window before the polynucleotide with the fastest electrophoretic mobility in each succeeding sample migrates past the detection window; and h) detecting polynucleotides from each sample as they migrate past the detection window; and wherein the third sample or one of the additional samples is loaded after the first sample has migrated past the detection window and before any portion of the second sample has migrated past the detection window.