A Guide to Protein Isolation - Tapa blanda

It is a truism of science that the more fundamental the subject, the more universally applicable it is. Nevertheless, it is important to strike a level of “fundamentalness” appropriate to the task in hand. For -depth study of the mechanics of motor cars would tell one example, an in nothing about the dynamics of traffic. Traffic exists on a different “level” - it is dependent upon the existence of motor vehicles but the physics and mathematics of traffic can be adequately addressed by considering motor vehicles as mobile “blobs”,with no consideration of how they become mobile. To start a discourse on traffic with a consideration of the mechanics of motor vehicles would thus be inappropropriate. In writing this volume, I have wrestled with the question of the appropriate level at which to address the physics underlying many of the techniques used in protein isolation. I have tried to strike a level as would be used by a mechanic (with perhaps a slight leaning towards an engineer) - i.e. a practical level, offering appropriate insight but with minimal mathematics. Some people involved in biochemical research have a minimal grounding in chemistry and physics and so I have tried to keep it as simple as possible.

This text takes the reader on a guided tour through the philosophical and physical foundations of protein isolation. Aimed at a student readership, it should also be very useful to life science researchers faced with the task of isolating a protein for the first time. The logic of the overall approach to isolating a protein is explained and the physical principles of each separation method are made clear by the use of simple models and analogies, drawn from everyday experiences. The author's aim has been to deepen the readers' insight into protein isolation methods, so that they may tackle new problems and perhaps devise new approaches to old problems. Many of the methods described are drawn from the author's own research and are thus described here. Examples are three-phase partitioning, non-linear electrophoresis, and a simple approach to buffer making.