Advances in biosensors

Advances in biosensors

Book Reviews laboratories which are not required to do so. From a European perspective, compliance with IS0 Guide 25 may be more appropriate, althoug...

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Book Reviews

laboratories which are not required to do so. From a European perspective, compliance with IS0 Guide 25 may be more appropriate, although the approaches are broadly similar. The chapter on GLPs in the automated laboratory looks at both the economic desirability as well as the impact. It refers to the EPA GALP (Good Automated Laboratory Practices) guidelines which have just been revised and reissued (EPA 2185 - Good Automated Laboratory Practices; August 1995). Chapter 6 is far too brief other than to serve as an outline, which is disappointing, although recent books cover this topic comprehensively (For example see Good Computer Validation Practices; Common Sense Implementation, Interpharm Press, 1994.). The short overview of the FDA’s GLP audit practices and expectations is useful. Chapter 8, The GLPs: the cybernetic necessity, is a short pot pourri of musings on validation, electronic signatures, the robotic laboratory etc. I am unconvinced and somewhat bemused by the author’s concluding assertions that “Generally, however, the GLPs fare well when evaluated according to cybernetic construct. They have the flexibility to accommodate change and the clarity to direct that change”. This book will probably be of most interest to those who have a specific need to understand the GLP position from an American viewpoint. Chris Burgess

Anthony P.F. Turner and Yu.M. Yevdokimov (Eds.), Advances in Biosensors, Vol. 3, Biosensors: A Russian Perspective, JAI Press, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1995 (ISBN l-559338-535-9). xv + 216 pp. Price f 62.5OAJS$97.50. This volume arose from discussions during a symposium on “Biosensors and Cell Technology” which was held during the FEBS meeting in Dublin in 1992. At that time, the problems facing scientists in the “new” Russia were highlighted by Yu. Yevdokimov, and he subsequently took on the challenge to produce a volume on biosensors written solely by Russian authors. The selection of authors for the volume was then made based on the framework of the Russian State programme on “New Methods of Bioengineering”. The volume consists of

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ten chapters. Following a brief introductory chapter, the next two chapters deal mainly with electrochemical transduction system. It was poignant to read, however, that although research is going on in this area in Russian, there is no market yet for such devices. The next chapter then discusses the development of both FET- and LAPS-based biosensors which have application in immunosensing and for studying metabolic processes in bacterial populations. The development of immunosensors is further discussed in relation to a flow-injection technique with enhanced chemiluminescence detection of a peroxidase enzyme label in a kinetic regime. The uses of Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers for immobilisation of biomolecules, as well as optical sensors based on porphyrin phosphors, bacteriorhodopsin and photosynthetic reaction centres, are also discussed in subsequent chapters. Perhaps the most interesting work reported in this volume, however, is that of Yevdokimov and his co-authors on the background for creating biosensors based on nucleic acids. This is an area of research which is only just coming to the fore in biosensor research in the “old West”, and shows that despite the problems faced by scientists in Russia, there is no substitute for good ideas and good basic science to underpin new technologies of the future. This I believe is the main message which should come from this volume, and one can only hope that the “new” Russia can overcome its political and financial difficulties to allow its scientists to fulfil a greater role in international scientific research. I can therefore recommend the book for all those interested in biosensor technology. Because of the language differences, there are some typographical errors, but these should not detract from the effort which went into producing this volume, Malcolm R. Smyth

Joseph Sneddon (Ed.), Advances in Atomic Spectroscopy, Vol. 2, JAI Press, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1995 (ISBN l-55938-701-7). x + 297 pp. Price & 62.50. This second volume in the series compliments the first very well with five chapters all written by acknowledged researchers in analytical spectrometry.