Before i can isolate an unknown protein, i would have to decide how i
would know when i have it. Please help me to answer this question. You
told me to get in touch with you about it. It is a Cytochrome C
protein. The first answer you gave was (WHAT INFORMATION DO YOU HAVE
CONCERNING THE PROTEIN?) I did not understand it . So please help me
to understand it. If there is more you need to know from me, please
let me know. This is not a class assignment or anything like that.    
       Ted.

Ted,

There is no "you" behind the curtain at Google Answers.  Many
different individuals have responded to you here since you began
posting.

Google has a staff, true, including some editors who work on Google
Answers.  But mainly Google Answers consists of three groups:

- Questioners like you and me who ask questions and offer a fee for answers
- Officially designated researchers who answer questions for the fee we pay
- Unpaid commenters (like me) who pop in and make remarks, usually
(but not always) meant to be helpful

The researchers' names appear underlined in blue.  Researchers are the
only people who can fill in the boxes labeled "Answer" and "Request
for Question Clarification."

Anyone can enter a comment.  Me, I'm just an ordinary person typing at
my keyboard and filling in a box labeled "Comment," and I am trying to
help because I have seen you struggling with this service for months
and it looks like you don't quite know how it works.

If you have more to say about a question that you have already asked,
post your additional comments or requests on that same question page. 
Then researchers and commenters can see them all in one place.  When
you open another question like this one referring back to an earlier
question, nobody can see what you're talking about.

If you have never gone to the Google Answers Home page and clicked
"View All Questions" down in the lower right, why don't you try that? 
Page back a way and look at some questions that have been answered and
received comments.  I think this will give you a better understanding
of how this service works and how to use it to get the information you
are looking for.

Archae0pteryx

Great comment, Tryx.

How very thoughtful of you to be so helpful.

Steph53

Perhaps a paid researcher would like to flesh out the following
suggestion into a proper answer.

Do a Western blot.  Use an antibody to cytochrome C.  Here's one
example of an antibody that can be purchased:
http://www.stratagene.com/pdf/cofa/B50000.pdf

You can do an SDS-PAGE gel to see if it the right size.  Cytochrome C
also has the unique property that it is colored, that is always an
indicator.

Thanks, Steph.  I think everyone who's read Ted's postings can see
that he's having difficulty.  Several people have tried to encourage
him to make his questions clearer, to stay on one page for the
duration of a single question and not keep opening new questions, and
to understand that it is not a dialogue with a single "Google" entity.
 The explanations have not seemed to help much.

It suddenly occurred to me that maybe it's just him and the "Ask a
Question" page, and that he might not have been reading the postings
of other questioners the way we do.  We've learned a lot about how GA
works just by reading other people's questions and answers.  Maybe Ted
is just not familiar with the customs and conventions or how the
customers, researchers, and commenters interact.  Maybe he also has
not noticed that all the different names on the responses mean that
many different people have written to him here but that none of them
is a thing called "Google."

One thing Ted's got going for him is tenacity.  I hope one of these
days he can actually obtain a complete answer to a complete question. 
I'll be one of the folks cheering.

Tryx

Ted,

Save lots of money and time and ask the people who are helping you
with this project how to do this.  Anyone who is working with you on
this should be able to both explain it, and find the cheapest easiest
way.

I would also be willing to bet a nickel, they have a big jar or
cytochrome c in a freezer somewhere too.

Bob