Real lab failures, root causes, and fixes — curated and bilingually annotated by our team.
All protein bands or the target band migrate further down the membrane than expected based on the predicted molecular weight. Coomassie blue staining of the membrane confirms abnormally low band positions before immunostaining.
Lower molecular weight proteins migrate excessively fast through the gel, resulting in poor resolution and bands appearing at the bottom of the membrane or running off entirely.
Protein bands do not align with expected molecular weight markers, with systematic upward or downward shifts affecting all bands uniformly. Pre-staining reveals migration issues before antibody detection.
All protein bands or the target band remain near the top of the membrane, migrating less than expected based on the predicted molecular weight. Coomassie blue staining confirms abnormally high band positions before immunostaining.
Higher molecular weight proteins remain near the loading wells with minimal migration, resulting in poor resolution and bands clustered at the top of the membrane.
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