A Motor-Driven, Mechanically Supported Ultracentrifuge for the Separation of Biological Materials

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This centrifuge is similar in principle to that of Bauer and Pickels (Jour. Exptl. Med., 64, 503-528, (1936)): a conical rotor carrying containers filled with the material under investigation is suspended and spun inside an evacuated chamber by means of a flexible shaft. The supporting and driving mechanism, however, is a "lathe-grinder." The use of a motor-drive and mechanical support affords advantages in respect to cost, simplicity of operation and ease of maintenance. A maximal speed of 44,000 r.p.m. has been attained, giving a maximal "tube-field" of 150,000 times gravity in the rotor employed. The centrifuge has been extensively used for the separation of influenza virus and has been shown to be capable of sedimenting proteins of mol. wt. as low as 309,000, i. e,. edestin, within a period of several hrs.