Do Not Underestimate the Good Old Separation Methods used for Protein Isolation

In the era of bioinformatics, big data and high throughput techniques it is quite tempting to forget the advantage of the good old techniques such as affinity chromatography, in the search of yet unknown protein molecules. Not so long ago this very efficient and straightforward technique yielded in quite a short time numerous bioactive molecules thus opening new fields of basic research. And I specifically refer to ligand affinity chromatography. This type of separation is based on unique interaction between the target analyte and a ligand coupled covalently to a resin [1,2]. It is a simple, rapid, selective, and efficient purification procedure of proteins. Tens of thousands fold purification is achieved in one step, which is crucial when an extremely rich sources of naturally occurring proteins such as human urine or plasma or spinal fluid are used [3]. [First paragraph]