Protein screening using cold microwave technology

Protein detection is a common yet time-intensive task in many laboratories. Here we report a protocol that makes use of cold microwave technology to reduce the total processing time to less than 1 h with dot and Western blot applications while yielding lower background noise at similar signal strength when compared with conventional protocols. With dot blots, the time savings was accompanied by a decrease in reagent use. With Western blots, the visibility of prestained markers was maintained, in stark contrast to conventional procedures. Experiments kept at a constant temperature of 21 °C support the existence of a microwave radiation effect, whereas an additional thermal effect is noted when the temperature is increased to 37 °C from ambient. Microwave-assisted dot blotting is suggested as an effective way of facilitating large-scale screening of expressed proteins.