Development of an automated on-line analysis system using flow injection, ultrasound filtration and CCD detection.

The design and construction of an automated on-line analysis system is described with reference to applications in bioprocess control, clinical, and environmental analysis. The new system is built around three main elements: ultrasound filtration, a micro flow injection analysis (FIA) system, and direct readout spectrophotometry. The advantages of three on-line ultrasound filtration devices, developed for clarification of water, human blood and mammalian cell culture samples, are described.

Development of a charged-coupled device-based light-scattering instrument for the detection of C-reactive protein using particle-enhanced immunoassay.

A novel light-scattering instrument has been developed for rapid detection of immunoreactions in test latex particle-enhanced immunoassays. The detector consists of a flat-field grating and a charge-coupled device mounted on a rotating platform, and the detector measures a continuous spectrum from 350 nm to 735 nm at 440 polar angles with a resolution of 0.5 degrees.

Plasma preparation from whole blood using ultrasound.

A technique to efficiently separate plasma from human whole blood is described. Essentially, 3-mL samples are held on the axis of a tubular transducer and exposed for 5.7 min to an ultrasonic standing wave.

Clarification of plasma from whole human blood using ultrasound.

There has been interest for a number of years in the possibility of separating blood into cells and plasma by methods other than centrifugation, so that the plasma can be analysed on-line. Cells in whole blood normally occupy about 45% of the suspension volume. It has been shown with a number of different cell types, such as yeast and bacteria, that for concentrations of this order the cells are not as efficiently harvested by ultrasound as those for lower concentrations.

A visual programming environment for bioprocess control.

The paper introduces the use of a visual programming environment (LabVIEW) to program custom control functions for bioprocess research. The time taken for a bioprocess scientist to program new functions compared well with typical times expected for experienced programmers using conventional languages. Experienced LabVIEW programmers will develop applications significantly faster.