Presentations at the 2008 meeting of the American Electrophoresis Society dealt with many aspects of this key separation technology. In total, there were 65 technical talks and 13 posters in a 4-day meeting. The proteomics technical talks described applications of 1D and 2D gel electrophoresis, capillary electrophoresis and microscale platforms. Some new platforms may find use in future proteomics research.