BIOASSAY Definition & Meaning

bioassay

[ noun bahy-oh-uh-sey, -as-ey; verb bahy-oh-uh-sey ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

determination of the biological activity or potency of a substance, as a vitamin or hormone, by testing its effect on the growth of an organism.

verb (used with object)

bioassayed, bioassaying.

to subject to a bioassay.

bioassay

noun

a method of determining the concentration, activity, or effect of a change to substance by testing its effect on a living organism and comparing this with the activity of an agreed standard

verb

tr to subject to a bioassay

bioassay

/ ��ī′ō-ă��′��′,-ă-��′ /

Determination of the relative purity of a substance, such as a drug or hormone, by comparing its effects with those of a standard preparation on a culture of living cells or a test organism.
A test used to determine such purity.

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of bioassay¹

First recorded in 1910–15; bio(logical) + assay

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

The students interpreted the bacterium's bioassay data and concluded it had antibiotic activity and produced a never-before-seen compound.

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So now I had a working bioassay, the essential step in biological experimentation.

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The affinity-selection mass spectrometry bioassay is then used to rank the affinity of the reaction products to target proteins, removing the need for time-intensive reaction purification.

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A round of worker of bioassay tests conducted in the summer found contamination in 31 people.

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After a June contamination incident, bioassay tests indicated that 31 workers inhaled or ingested small amounts of radioactive substances.

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