Bio-Rad PROTEAN II XL Cell - Manual (Page 27)

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Section 9
Removing the Gels
1. After electrophoresis is complete, turn off the power supply, and disconnect the electrical leads
2. Disconnect coolant hoses from the core (if applicable), and plug off the ports.
3. Remove the cell lid, and carefully pull the central cooling core out of the lower chamber. Pour off the
upper buffer.
4. Lay the central cooling core on its side, and remove the sandwich assembly in the following manner:
With your index fingers below the sandwich clamps and your thumbs resting on the latches in the
cooling core, gently remove the assembly by pulling up toward you (in a manner opposite to the way it
was attached in Section 5). Pull the sandwich assembly off the locating pins on the top of the cooling
core.
5. Loosen the single screw of each clamp, and remove the clamps from the glass plates.
6. Push one of the spacers of the sandwich out to the side of the plates without removing it.
7. Gently twist the spacer so that the upper glass plate pulls away from the gel.
8. Remove the gel by gently grasping two corners of the gel and lifting off, or alternatively, place the gel
and glass plate under fixative solution, and agitate gently until the gel separates from the glass plate.
9. If the gel is to be stained later, place it in a suitable container with fixative solution (e.g., 40%
methanol/10% acetic acid). See Section 14.5 for staining formulations. If the proteins on the gel are to
be electrophoretically transferred to a membrane, place the gel in equilibration buffer (do not put in
fixative).
Note: The Model 556 Gel Destainer (catalog number 165-2010) is ideal for rapid destaining (less than 1
hour) of Coomassie blue stained gels.