Patent ID: 7807823

Claim:
A method of forming porous agarose beads, wherein the agarose has a melting point and a gel point above that of room temperature, comprising the steps of: a) providing, i) agarose, ii) water, iii) an effective amount of a gel-inhibiting agent selected from the group consisting of zinc chloride, lithium chloride, sodium iodide, potassium iodide and mixtures thereof, iv) a fluorosurfactant, and v.) a gelling agent selected from the group consisting of acetone, methanol, ethanol, propanol and blends thereof, b) combining the agarose, water, and gel-inhibiting agent together to form a mixture, wherein the gel-inhibiting agent is present in concentrations greater than about 15% by weight of the mixture, c) heating the mixture to a temperature above the melting point of the agarose for a time sufficient to dissolve the agarose and the gel-inhibiting agent in the water to form an agarose solution, d) reducing the temperature of the agarose solution to about room temperature wherein the agarose solution is stable at a temperature of about 20° C., and the agarose is present from about 0.1% to about 20% by weight of the agarose solution, e) adding to the agarose solution a fluorosurfactant having a concentration about 0.001% to about 10% by total weight of the solution, f) providing a gelling agent bath, g) applying the agarose solution from step (e) drop wise into the gelling agent bath, thereby forming porous agarose beads, and h) rinsing the porous agarose beads in water to remove the gelling agent and the fluorosurfactant.