Cozap: Destaining gels without changing solutions.
How do you remove the Coomassie blue from your acrylamide gel destain solution? Add more solution? Toss in a piece of foam? Maybe you rely on a mushy wad of disposable lab tissues? Or perhaps you've tried some activated charcoal tied inside a piece of cheesecloth? While these old standby methods work, I always thought that there had to be a better way.

Now there is. Sialomed, Inc. of Columbia, Maryland, has introduced a Coomassie blue dye removal product called COZAP. Packaged in a mylar envelope, this 3 x 3 inch compressed sponge-like material has a terrific affinity for Coomassie blue. Simply toss one pad into your gel destain solution, and watch the white COZAP turn blue as it gobbles up all the free dye in solution. The Coomassie blue binds irreversibly to the COZAP, leaving the destain solution as colorless as a freshly...

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