Tilesius's doctoral dissertation introduced the laboratory technique of moving-boundary electrophoresis, a technique for separation of chemical compounds by electrophoresis in free solution.

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)

Between 1931 and 1937, with financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation, Tiselius developed his "Tiselius apparatus" for moving boundary electrophoresis. In this paper he demonstrated that electrophoresis separated protein fractions into four bands that he named: 1) albumin, 2) alpha, 3) beta, 4) gamma.

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)

Tiselius showed that an antibody that he produced in a rabbit by immunizing it with albumin (ovalbumin) was clearly located in the gamma globulin fraction. He summarized the paper with this statement: "Investigation of a highly potent anti-egg albumin ('ovalbumin') serum from rabbit showed that the antibody function migrated with the gamma globulin fraction only."

Consequences of separation and identification of the antibody were that it could be studied and characterized, could be quantitated, and could be used to identify pathologic conditions in which it was either absent or low.

(Thanks to Juan Weiss for this reference and its interpretation.)

Antibodies shown to be gamma globulins.