Does anyone have a suggestion on how to identify/see peptides on SDS-Page gels? I'm using the correct gel, but Coomassie just isn't strong enough for me to see the band.
What size are the peptides you want to see? What is the pore size of the gel and what is the buffer system (Tris/Gly, Tricine,...). How do you fix the gel? Have you tried fluorescent staining (with RuBPS, doi:10.1007/978-1-61779-821-4_48)?
That's borderline for PAGE, have you considered using HPLC (RP on C18) instead? But staining with RuBPS should work, unless the peptide is washed out of the gel during staining.
~2000 Da is too small to detect on PAGE with Coomassie Blue. Maybe you can try to reduce the TEDMED so the gel matrix is not so dense and increase the running time. I also suggest silver staining for more sensitive with small concentration of protein.