a system for assaying a biological sample for a presence of a target analyte includes an assaying device and a computer controller . the assaying device includes a housing , a receptacle disposed in the housing , and a source of activation energy . the receptacle is configured to accept an electrophoresis cell . the electrophoresis cell has a recess area configured to accept a chip configured to accept the biological sample . the chip includes a polymeric separation medium with activatable functional groups that covalently bond to the target analyte when activated . the source of activation energy is configured to supply activation energy to activate the activatable functional groups . the computer controller is operably coupled to the source of activation energy and is configured to activate the source of activation energy to direct an application of activation energy to the polymeric separation medium to activate the activatable functional groups .