Platinum wire for electrophoresis in France

[Joan Shields]

Sophie.Launey at ifremer.fr (Sophie Launey) asks:
>>Hello there.

>>Does anybody know a supplier for platinum wire in France (or neighbour
>>countries: Belgium, UK...)? We are planning to make electrodes for protein
>>electrophoresis, and the supplier we were told about (Compagnie des Metaux
>>Precieux, in Paris) does not exist anymore... So we would be very grateful
>>if somebody could point us to another company.

DANIEL Y KIM <dkim at nmsu.edu> wrote:
>Hi:

>Last year there was a post in which pencil "leads" were proposed as an 
>alternative electrode for electrophoresis.  The author described a method 
>for making an agarose gel apparatus for less than $ 1 US by extracting 
>the graphite rod from a pencil and using it as an electrode.

I used to have an isoelectric-focusing apparatus (from Bio-Rad I think)
that used graphite bars - worked great and a lot less expensive.  You 
might be able to use a pencil lead but I would probably look for something
a little more sturdy.  If you want to try Daniel Kim's suggestion try an
art supply store and look for thicker graphite pencils (all graphite - I
have one at home).  They come with a plastic cover that's easy enough to
peel off.

Or, if you're sold on platinum wire a jewery store or an art supply store
would probably be your best bet.

joan