electrophoresis, then instead of the diffusion towards the antibodies, the proteins are electrophoresed into an antibody-containing gel in the second dimension. Immunoprecipitation will take place during the second dimension electrophorsis and the immunoprecipitates have a characteristic bell-shape, each precipitate representing one antigen, the position of the precipitate being dependent on the amount of protein as well as the amount of specific antibody in the gel, so relative quantification can be performed. The sensitivity and resolving power of crossed immunoelectrophoresis is than that of the classical immunoelectrophoretic analysis and there are multiple variations of the technique useful for various purposes. Crossed immunoelectrophoresis has been used for studies of proteins in biological fluids, particularly human serum, and biological extracts. Rocket immunoelectrophoresis is one-dimensional quantitative immunoelectrophoresis. The method has been used for quantitation of human serum proteins before automated methods became available. Fused rocket immunoelectrophoresis is a modification of one-dimensional quantitative immunoelectrophorsis used for detailed measurement of proteins in fractions from protein separation experiments. Affinity immunoelectrophoresis is based on changes in the electrophoretic pattern of proteins through specific interaction or complex formation with other macromolecules or ligands. Affinity immunoelectrophoresis has been used for estimation of binding constants, as for instance with lectins or for characterization of proteins with specific features like glycan content or ligand binding. Some variants of affinity immunoelectrophoresis are similar to affinity chromatography by use of immobilized ligands. The open structure of the immunoprecipitate in the agarose gel will allow additional binding of radioactively labeled antibodies to reveal specific proteins. This variation has been used for identification of allergens through reaction with immunoglobulin E (IgE). Two factors determine that immunoelectrophoretic methods are not widely used. First they are rather work intensive and require some manual expertise. Second they require rather large amounts of polyclonal antibodies. Today gel electrophoresis followed by electroblotting is the preferred method for protein characterization because its ease of operation, its high sensitivity, and its low requirement for specific antibodies. In addition proteins are separated by gel electrophoresis on the basis of their apparent molecular weight, which is not accomplished by immunoelectrophoresis, but nevertheless immunoelectrophoretic methods are still useful when non-reducing conditions are needed. Counter-immunoelectrophoresis and its modification In comparison to other conventional methods of diagnosis e.g. for viral infection testing, counter-immunoelectrophoresis is a highly specific, simple, and speedy method that does not require sophisticated, expensive tools, input materials, or long-term capacity building. Considering the high informativeness