ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the rationale for electrokinetic separation experiments in microgravity, the basic design features of the different flight systems, results of flight experiments, lessons learned, and future experimental systems that are planned for Spacelab and Space Station research. Experiments on Apollo and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project missions demonstrated several of the advantages of operating both static column and Continuous flow electrophoresis (CFE) systems in microgravity. Microgravity does little to modify or eliminate electroosmosis. Protein separations and limited cell separations using dilute sample concentrations can be carried out on Earth and then compared with experiments in microgravity. In microgravity the astronaut loaded each frozen sample slide into a separate electrophoresis column for each run. Microgravity electrophoresis experiments using stable protein samples have confirmed some of the major restrictions to preparative-scale electrophoresis of soluble biologicals on Earth. The ability of CFE systems to be operated in a continuous, automated mode makes them good candidates for microgravity research and development experiments.
