An inexpensive resource for the protein-research community

Labs can easily make their own protein ladders—molecular rulers for estimating the sizes of proteins—for less than a penny per experiment using the newly developed, license-free "Penn State Protein Ladder system." A research team of undergraduate students led by Song Tan, Verne M. Willaman Professor of Molecular Biology at Penn State, developed the ladders to be easily used in two of the most common experiments in protein research, gel electrophoresis and Western blots—which researchers use to separate or detect proteins based on their size.