Biosensors & Bioelectronics Vol. 12 No. 2 (1997)

News and Market Update

The Section is a snap-shot of what is happening now in the field of biosensors and bioelectronics. Edited from international printed and electronic media, using research, application, novelty and innovation as key words, we give you the pearls!

Measuring the bitter in bitter

The bittemess sensation is loca&d at the back of the tongue and the bittemess of beer is derived from the bitter tasting hop iso-alpha acids. The BeerProbe, a rapid in-line beer bittemess and colour analyzer, uses the fluorescente properties of the iso-alpha acids, and the quenching effect produced fiom colour dependent absorption. The fluorescente emission of the beer is measured against known standards enabling accurate in-line value of colour and bittemess to be rapidly obtained. The patented fluorescente technique was developed by Instruments SA (UK) Ltd, a subsidiary of Instruments SA France in conjunction with Whitbread PLC.

For jùrther information contact: Chris Kemp, Instruments S.A. (UK) Ltd, 2-4 Wigton Gardens, Stanmore, Mdldesex HA7 IBG, UK, tel: [44/ 181 204 8142, fax: (441181 204 6142, email: isa@isa-gs.demon.co. uk

Inert Coating for Critical Biomedical Applications

Pwlene, a xylylene polymer originally developed as a protective coating for electronic assemblies, is now finding applications in the biomedical field; where it is said to be suitable for coating bone pins and temporary hardware, prosthetic components, catheters, heart pacemakers, cochlea implants, neurological probes and other similar devices.

The optically clear, high performance polymer coating is claimed to be pure, highly resistant to body fluids and is compatible with

body tissues. Typically applied in a coating thickness of 5 to 25 micrometers this very thin, transparent protective polymer layer is pinhole fiee, uniform and conf%rmal and can be applied to a wide variety of substrate materials.

The coating is stable, causes minima1 or no change in response characteristics and isolates surfaces electrically and chemically from body fluids, moisture and ionic contamination, as wel1 I as offering excellent dry film lubricity. /

Forjûrther information contact: Nova Tran Ltd, Monarch Rd, Northampton NN2 6EH, UK, tel: [44] 1604 715600, fax: [44] 1604 715483

IL purchases Mallinckrodt’s Sensors Systems Mallinckrodt’s sensor systems business, having been considered ‘no longer fitting their strategie direction’, has been acquired by the American diagnostics company Instrumentation Laboratory for an undisclosed amount

Pharmacia Biosensor becomes Biocore Following a strategie assessment Pharmacia Biosensor have refocused their identity and become more closely identified with their instruments by changing the corporate name to Biocore AB. The Company’s addresses, contacts and contact numbers remain unchanged.

Support for Protein Capture

The Biosupport Division of Pal1 Corporation has introduced a new solid phase support for use in molecular/immunoassays. The Immunodyne ABC membrane is designed to covalently immobilise polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies, enzymes

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