a diagram of an apparatus for forming a plurality of wells on a gel which is supported on a sheet is shown in fig1 . the gel ( 10 ), such as an sds gel , is present on the surface of the sheet ( 15 ). the sheet ( 15 ) is positioned on a base plate ( 20 ), made of a plastic or metal material , which has a recess ( 22 ) for locating the sheet in a predefined position relative to the plate ( 20 ). fastening means , in the form of threaded screw bores ( 24 a - c , 24 d not shown ), are located at each corner of the plate ( 20 ) to allow affixing by screws ( not shown ) of the base plate ( 20 ) to a top plate ( 40 ) in a predefined position . it will be understood that other forms of fastening means can be used ( e . g . clasps , clamps , pins and holes , snap fastening ). a plurality of wells is formed on the gel by means of a multiwell template ( 30 ) which may be made of any suitable material such plastic , a metal , ceramic or composite material . the multiwell template ( 30 ) consists of an elongated body ( 32 ) having two elongated side walls ( 31 a , 31 b ) joined at their ends by two end walls ( 33 a , 33 b ). a plurality of open - ended chambers ( 34 i - n ) are arranged along the longitudinal axis of the body ( 32 ), side chambers being separated from their neighbour ( s ) by intermediate wall ( 35 a - 35 n - 1 ), each of which extends from side wall 31 a to side wall 31 b . each chamber ( 34 ) may take any appropriate shape , for example circular , oval , polygonal , square or rectangular ( as shown ). the body ( 32 ) of the multiwell template ( 30 ) is divided by a flange ( 36 ) into a first ( 32 a ) and second ( 32 b ) portion ; the first ( 32 a ) portion being shaped for insertion into an opening ( 42 ) in the top plate ( 40 ) and a second portion ( 32 b ) being tapered to a base ( 38 ) for compressing the gel . it will be understood that when the template ( 30 ) is lowered or pushed onto the gel ( 10 ) and contacts , or comes into close proximity with , the sheet ( 15 ) supporting the gel ( 10 ), each chamber ( 34 ) forms a well with the gel or the sheet forming a base and the walls of the chamber ( not shown ) defining the walls of the well . in this way a plurality of wells are created on the gel . the multiwell template ( 30 ) may be inserted into an opening ( 42 ) in a top plate ( 40 ), which is composed of a plastic or metal ( e . g . stainless steel ) material , either before or after it has been lowered or pushed onto the gel to form a plurality of wells thereon . in the example shown , the flange ( 36 ) supports the template ( 30 ) on the ledge ( 44 ) of the top plate ( 40 ). it should be noted that the template does not cut the gel but rather compresses it to form a plurality of wells . the wells are held in a predefined position relative to the base plate ( 20 ) and the top plate ( 40 ) by affixing the top plate ( 40 ) to the base plate ( 20 ) by fastening means in the top ( 46 a - d ) and base ( 24 a - d ) plates . in the embodiment of fig1 , screws ( not shown ) are used to secure the top plate ( 40 ) to the base plate ( 20 ) by insertion through openings in the top plate ( 46 a - d ) and into the screw bores ( 24 a - d ) in the base plate ( 20 ). in this way the plurality of wells formed in the gel is held in a predefined position relative to the top and bottom plate . fig2 is a perspective view of another embodiment of an apparatus according to the invention . the apparatus shown in fig2 is suitable for use with isoelectric focusing gels , in particular ipg strips such as immobiline ™ drystrip gels . the ipg strip ( not shown ), consisting of a plastic base sheet supporting a coating of polyacrylamide gel ( 110 ), is placed within a recess ( 152 ) of a retainer ( 150 ) which is an electrophoresis manifold . the retainer ( 150 ), which is typically made of a plastic material , may consist of a plurality of recesses ( 152 i - n ), twelve being shown in the embodiment of fig2 , such that a plurality of ipg strips may be processed at the same time . following electrofusing of an analyte in the ipg strip , the retainer ( 150 ) together with the strip is located in a predefined position within a recess ( 122 ) in the top surface of the base plate ( 120 ). the base plate may be made of a plastic or metal material . a multiwell template ( 130 ), similar in construction to that described above with respect to the first embodiment of the present invention , comprises a plurality of open - ended chambers ( 134 i - n ) and is inserted in an opening ( 142 ) in a top plate ( 140 ) such that it supported by its flange ( 136 ) on a ledge ( not shown ) surrounding the opening ( 142 ). the multiwell template ( 130 ) and the top plate ( 140 ) are typically made of a plastic material but may be made of other materials such as a metal . it will be understood that a plurality of multiwell templates ( 130 ) may be positioned in the top plate ( 140 ) in the manner described ; thus , for example , in the embodiment shown , twelve multiwell templates ( 130 ) can be positioned within the top plate ( 140 ). once it is positioned within the top plate ( 140 ), the multiwell template ( 130 ) is lowered or moved onto the surface of the gel ( 110 ), such that the tapered portion ( 132 b ) of the body of the template compresses the gel ( 110 ) such that the base ( 138 ) of the template comes into close proximity to the plastic sheet supporting the gel ( 110 ). in this position , a well is defined with the gel or the plastic sheet forming the base and the walls of the template defining the walls of the well . it will be understood that with different embodiments of the invention , the multiwell template ( 130 ) may be lowered or moved onto the gel ( 110 ) to form a plurality of wells thereon before the template ( 130 ) is inserted into the top plate ( 140 ). the multiwell template can then be secured into position relative to the top ( 140 ) and bottom ( 120 ) plates by use of the fastening means in the top ( 146 a - d ) and bottom ( 124 a - d ; d not shown ) plates ; for example , in fig2 , screws ( not shown ) could be used to affix the plates together . in the preferred embodiment shown in fig2 , a securing strip ( 160 ) is positioned over the top of the multiwell template ( 130 ) such that the openings ( 164 i - n ) in the strip ( 160 ) overlap and correspond to the positions of the open ended chambers ( 134 i - n ) in the template ( 130 ). the securing strip ( 160 ) may then lock the template ( 130 ) into a predefined position by affixing it to the top plate ( 140 ) by use of the fastening means in the strip ( 166 a - b ) and the top plate ( 148 i and n ); such fastening means may take the form of openings in the securing strip ( 166 a - b ), screw bores in the top plate ( 148 i and n ) and the use of one or more screws of appropriate bore . alternatively the securing strip may be formed integrally with a multiwall template . fig3 is a plan perspective of the apparatus of fig2 , where each of the component parts has the same features as described above for fig2 . thus the apparatus consists of a base plate ( 220 ) having a recess ( 222 ) and fastening means ( 224 a - d , d not shown ). a retainer ( 250 ) in the form of an isoelectric focussing manifold holds a number of ipg strips ( not shown ) within a series of recesses ( 252 i - n ) consisting of a plastic sheet supporting a polyacrylamide gel ( 210 ). the top plate ( 240 ), made of a plastic material , consists of a plurality of openings ( 242 i - n ) corresponding to the positions of the ipg strips within the retainer ( 210 ). fastening means ( 246 a - d ; and 248 i and n ), corresponding to those present in the base plate ( 224 a - d ) and securing strip ( 260 ), respectively , are present in the top plate ( 240 ). the multiwell template ( 230 ) comprises a plurality of open ended chambers ( 234 i - n ). the securing strip ( 260 ) consists of a number of openings ( 264 i - n ) corresponding to the position of the open - ended chambers ( 234 i - n ) in the template ( 230 ) and fastening means ( 266 a and b ). the apparatus of fig3 may be used in the same way as described above in connection with fig2 to obtain a plurality of wells on a gel . fig4 a is a view of the base ( 338 ) of a multiwell template ( 330 ) according to the invention . the open - ended chambers ( 334 i - n ) are defined by a series of walls ( 333 ) throughout the body ( 332 ) of the template ( 330 ). recesses or notches ( 337 ) on the base of the template ( 330 ) are used to place the template ( 330 ) onto protusions in the retainer ( not shown ) which holds the ipg strips , and thus to locate the template ( 330 ) in a predefined position relative to the ipg strip . fig4 b shows the plastic sheet ( 315 ) of an ipg strip positioned on the base ( 338 ) of the multiwell template ( 330 ). in the perspective view shown , the gel cannot be seen because it is on the underside of the sheet ( 315 ) and is in contact with the base ( 338 ) of the template ( 330 ). in this position , the base of the sheet ( 315 ) within each chamber ( 334 ) or the gel forms the base of a well and the walls of the chamber act as the walls of a well . fig5 shows a plan perspective of a top plate ( 440 ) according to the invention which is made of steel . the openings ( 442 i - n ) for receipt of the multiwell template ( shown in position ), together with fastening means for affixing to the base plate ( 446 a - d ) and for affixing to the securement strip ( 448 i - n ) are illustrated in the diagram . fig6 a is a plan view showing details of a top plate ( 540 ) of the invention in which the securing strip ( 560 ) has been positioned to affix the multiwell template ( not shown ) to the top plate ( 540 ). the fastening means ( 566 ), in the form of openings , are shown and co - locate with those of retainer ( not shown ) in the top plate ( see 448 i - n in fig5 ). fig6 b is an underside view showing details of the arrangement given in fig6 a . the base ( 538 ) of the tapered second portion of the multiwell template , which protrudes from the lower surface of the top plate ( 560 ), is seen clearly from this angle . it is this base ( 538 ) which compresses the gel , each open - ended chamber ( 534 i - n ) forming a well with the base sheet ( not shown ) of the gel . fig7 shows an automatic eluting system according to the present invention . following electrophoresis of a sample on a gel , for instance an ipg strip , a plurality of wells is formed using the method of the invention as described above . the gel in each well is then eluted with buffer to extract the analyte ( such as a peptide ) and the resulting eluant transferred to a reaction vessel for further processing / analysis . fig7 shows an eight channel eluting probe ( 670 ) in the process of transferring eluant from the wells present in the top plate ( 640 ) of the apparatus of the invention to wells ( 682 i - n ) in a microtitre plate ( 680 ). the system is under the control of a computer ( not shown ). the number of wells formed in the ipg strip typically correspond to the number of wells across the length or breadth of the microtitre plate ( e . g . they are a multiple of 8 or 12 for a 96 well microtitre plate ) or a fraction of these numbers ( e . g . 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 ). the present examples are provided for illustrative purposes only , and should not be construed as limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims . all references given below and elsewhere in the present specification are hereby included herein via reference . 0 . 5 mg of a tryptic digest sample from saccharomyces cerevisiae , type ii , was mixed with 5 μg of each of the pi - markers ‘ 3 . 73 ’, ‘ 4 . 25 ’ and ‘ 4 . 54 ’. a ‘ pi - marker ’ is a fluorescently labelled peptide with known isoelectric point that can be detected by fluorescence scanning . the fluorescent label used was cy5 ™ ( available from amersham biosciences ab ; sweden ) which emission spectrum is taken at ˜ 660 nm ( ettan ™ dige system — user manual , amersham biosciences ab , sweden ). a 24 cm ipg peptide strip ( ph 3 . 4 - 4 . 8 ) was rehydrated overnight (˜ 15 hours , room temperature ) in 350 μl of 8m urea and sample solution . the rehydrated strip was transferred to an ettan ™ ipgphor ™ manifold and isoelectric focusing was run using the following program : gradient 500 v 1 minute , gradient 4000 v 1 . 5 hours , gradient 6000 v 1 . 5 hours , gradient 10000 v 1 . 5 hours , step 10000 v 12 hours ( total ˜ 150 kvhrs ). ettan ™ ipgphor ii ™ was used as the focusing unit and the focusing was performed at 20 ° c . after focusing , the ipg strip was scanned in a fluorescence scanner ( typhoon ™ 9400 scanner , amersham biosciences , sweden ) at 660 nm , to determine the exact position of the fluorescent pi - markers . the typhoon ™ pictures were evaluated in imagequant and fluorescence intensity graphs established . after scanning , the peptides in the strip were extracted from the gel into liquid fractions using the multiwell template of the invention . thereby the ph gradient is divided into a series of discrete fractions along the strip . in this manner , the ipg strip was divided into 72 fractions at about 3 mm intervals . 50 μl water was added to each of the 72 wells , incubated at room temperature for 60 minutes and extracted peptides were then transferred to a microtitre plate in an automated manner . the elution process was repeated three times to ensure extraction and transfer of all peptides from each well . after extraction , the multiwell template was removed from the ipg strip and the device can be reused following cleaning in consecutive experiments . in the described experiment , the ipg peptide strip was once more scanned in a typhoon ™ scanner and the pictures were evaluated in imagequant . fig8 shows the fluorescent intensity of the ipg strip before ( fig8 a ) and after ( fig8 b ) extraction . fig8 c shows the scanned microtitre plate with extracted peptide samples and the strips before and after extraction , demonstrating high and low levels of fluorescence , respectively . from the figures it is clear that the peptides have been effectively extracted from the ipg strip and are now present in the wells of the microtitre plate . fig9 shows the result of a comparison between all identified peptide sequences in seven fractions next to each other on the basic end of the ipg strip . of a total of 719 identified peptides in the seven compared fractions , 82 % of the peptides were present in only one fraction and 16 % in two fractions . the results of this experiment not only underline the high resolution in the ipg strip but also that there is no problem with leakage between the wells formed using the multiwell template of the invention . the above examples illustrate specific aspects of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope thereof in any respect and should not be so construed . those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings of the present invention as set forth above , can effect numerous modifications thereto . these modifications are to be construed as being encompassed within the scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims .