MIT's new microchip promises to improve protein sorting

Resarchers at MIT engineered a new microchip system that could be a vital asset for proteomics. Using a "microsieve"_a sieve is just a filtering structure_built into the microchip system, they are able to separate proteins accurately by size. A sample containing different proteins is placed in a reservoir above the chip and run through the sieve continuously.
Protein sorting with this new system is done in minutes compared to older gel electrophoresis techniques that take hours. It can also isolate proteins of small sizes. But most importantly, the system can be designed such that pores in the microchip only hold proteins of a specific size. This can be used to isolate biological markers, which are crucial in diagnosis and treatment of diseases. What is cool is that the authors of this device are two pretty young doctors and a young Ph.D. student, not the conventional old beardy scientists like you would expect.


http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/sieve.html