Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a technique used to separate individual components in a mixture, which is often a crucial first step to identifying those components. In short, a very thin fused silica tube called a capillary is filled with buffer and a small amount of analyte is loaded into one end. When a voltage is applied across the capillary, components move through the capillary at different rates, dependent on a variety of properties. My research focuses on developing a capillary electrophoresis technique called capillary isoelectric focusing (cIEF) and our goal is to separate and quantify the proteins in a single cell. This could eventually be used for diagnosing diseases, or finding candidate drug targets (proteins which appear to behave substantially differently in diseases versus non-diseased patients). cIEF separates proteins by their acidity/basicity, also known as their isoelectric point (pI). However, this technique currently suffers from poor reproducibility, likely caused either by protein adsorption onto the capillary walls, or degradation of the coating on the capillary walls. In particular, my present research concerns making new polyacrylamide-based capillary coatings, and evaluating the efficiency and reproducibility of the separations for each coating. If I find a coating which works for reproducible cIEF, then I will begin working on two-dimensional separations, analogous to 2D gel electrophoresis, but with single-cell sensitivity and potentially improved resolution.