Patent ID: 6923896

Claim:
An electrophoretic apparatus comprising: a first electrolyte chamber containing a first electrode; a second electrolyte chamber containing a second electrode, wherein the second electrolyte chamber is disposed relative to the first electrolyte chamber so that the electrodes are adapted to generate an electric field in an electric field area upon application of a selected electric potential between the electrodes; a first sample chamber disposed between the first and second electrolyte chambers and proximate to the first electrolyte chamber so as to be at least partially disposed in the electric field area; a second sample chamber disposed between the first sample chamber and the second electrolyte chamber so as to be at least partially disposed in the electric field area; a first ion-permeable barrier separating the first and second sample chambers so as to impede convective mixing of the contents in each of the first and second sample chambers; a second ion-permeable barrier separating the first electrolyte chamber and the first sample chamber so as to impede convective mixing of the contents in each of the first sample chamber and the first electrolyte chamber; a third ion-permeable barrier separating the second electrolyte chamber and the second sample chamber so as to impede convective mixing of the contents in each of the second sample chamber and the second electrolyte chamber, wherein at least one of the second ion-permeable barrier and the third ion-permeable barrier is an isoelectric membrane; a first electrolyte reservoir and a second electrolyte reservoir in fluid communication with the first and second electrolyte chambers, respectively; a first sample reservoir and a second sample reservoir in fluid communication with the first and second sample chambers, respectively, wherein the first sample reservior is not in fluid communication with the second reservoir; means adapted for communicating an associated first electrolyte between the first electrolyte chamber and the first electrolyte reservoir; means adapted for communicating an associated second electrolyte between the second electrolyte chamber and the second electrolyte reservoir; means adapted for communicating a first fluid between the first sample chamber and the first sample reservoir; and means adapted for communicating a second fluid between the second sample chamber and the second sample reservoir, wherein at least one of the first and second fluid contains at least a sample, wherein application of the selected electric potential cause migration of at least one component through at least one of the ion-permeable barriers.