Optoelectronic instrumentation for biological research and the clinical laboratory

Optoelectronic instrumentation finds increasing applications in the clinical-laboratory work and in biological research. Radioimmunological tests start being substituted by methods which quantify immunoreactions by means of non-hazardous optical techniques. The main ideas involved in the design of such optical instruments, like photometers for enzyme immunoassay or precise fluorometers for fluoroimmunology, are briefly described. Emphasis is then given to a new development in optical detectors for liquid chromatography, that is a very sensitive dynamic-laser-light-scattering system which measures the hydrodynamic radius of the eluting macromolecules directly after the column. Calibrations or knowledge of ancillary parameters, like the refractive-index increment and concentration, are not required.