Centrifugation is a technique, used for separation of particles including macromolecules by sedimenting them under varying gravitational force.
Different particles of different masses settles in a tube at different rates in response to gravity. Centrifugal field applied by a centrifuge increases the settling rate of particles causing their separation.
This technique is valuable for determination of molecular weight of macromolecules.
This course covers the basic principle and types of centrifugation, types of rotors, and their applications.
General Principle
Centrifugation is a separation technique, which is based upon the behavior of the particles in the centrifugal field applied. A theoretical basis of this technique is the effect of gravity on particles in a suspension. It is one of the most important and widely applied research techniques in biochemistry, molecular biology, and medicine.
Current research and clinical applications rely on isolation of cells, sub-cellular organelles, and macromolecules such as DNA, RNA, proteins, or lipids.
To obtain the macromolecules and cellular organelles particles are suspended in liquid medium and kept in a centrifuge.
A centrifuge uses centrifugal force (g-force) to isolate suspended particles from their surrounding medium on either a batch or a continuous-flow basis.
