MODEL RELEASED. Proteins research. Researcher holding a 2-D gel used in PAGE. PAGE (polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) is used to study the structure and function of an organism's proteins (proteomics). An electric field and a pH gradient are set up at right angles to each other in the gel, separating proteins by their mass and charge respectively. Each dot in the gel is a different protein, which will be removed from the gel for further study.