sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE)

Analytical separation technique, often used to characterize proteins or mixtures, that uses a charged gel environment through which molecules of varying sizes and electric charges migrate from one pole to the other. Unlike gel-filtration chromatography, larger molecules move more slowly than smaller molecules because their migration rate is not dependent on diffusion into and out of particles. The SDS detergent denatures and binds to proteins, aiding in their separation.