Capillary electrophoresis: pioneering new approaches for biomolecular analysis

There is little doubt that electrophoretic techniques have made an immeasurable contribution to our understanding of biochemical systems. Capillary electrophoresis (CE), the subject of this article, is not yet as widely utilized as 'slab' gel electrophoresis for the separation of biological molecules, but may confer several advantages over more conventional techniques. For example, it offers fast separation, needs only minute quantities of sample, gives high quantitative reproducibility and can be automated. These qualities make it a highly attractive method, which will ultimately lead to new horizons for biomolecular analyses.