The structural characterisation of biotechnology products presents a challenge for modern analytical techniques. In contrast to small molecule drugs, biopharmaceuticals can be extremely large, complex entities, often comprising of multiple disulphide-bridged proteins or glycoproteins.In particular, these products demand the use of methods capable of determining the primary structure of a recombinant or engineered molecule and of detecting and assigning post-translational modifications and microheterogeneities. By Dr Fiona M Greer.

Eric Russell looks at the increasing use of MALDI-TOFspectrometers in the laboratory environment and are nowthe instruments of choice for the analysis of proteins,peptides, oligonucleotides and synthetic polymers.

Competition is tough and continually rising demands on product quality mean more work in less time. This, in turn requires increased efficiency and optimised usage of equipment and personnel capacities. The only way for successfully meeting all these day-to-day demands on today's labs is by systematically avoiding anything and everything that wastes time, increases frustration and is prone to error.

The transport of water molecules through solids is commonplace and of significance to diverse industries. The interest lies in preventing ingress of water vapour and the associated product protection. Equally there are applications dependent on the transport of water vapour where a controlled release of water vapour is required. Dr M Mercer and Dr M J Benham report.

Rajesh Manchanda and Frederick A Liberatore look at the uses of nitric oxide biochemistry in cell signalling and cell death.

High purity chemicals of the highest quality are being supplied to users in research and industry. Customers range in variety from pharmaceutical and chemical institutions, to the aerospace and electronics industries.

Moisture content analysis is a critical component of material quality and a function of quality control in most production and laboratory facilities

Adding to the capabilities of the Agilent 2100 bioanalyser Agilent Technologies and Caliper Technologies have introduced the 2100 Bioanalyser Cell Assay Extension and a Cell Fluorescence LabChip kit.

The Middle East could become the world's hub for communications following recent developments in the region, Eric Russell reports.

It will centre on Dubai where a recently opened e-commerce acity complex' is already attracting international IT companies.

In the highly competitive mobile communications market, cellular providers continue to offer calling plans that promise large bundles of long distance minutes for flat fees. Consequently, increasing demand for wholesale long distance bandwidth will positively impact pricing and boost revenues.

Developments are matching needs on today's communications equipment backplanes as manufacturers move towards optical technology and fibre replaces copper. This move is being driven principally by the need to fit more traffic onto communications systems. Eric Russell reports.

Ericsson has launched its latest GSM dual band 900/1800 and 850/1900 modules based on GPRS, the GM47 and GM48 respectively.

Not so long ago, some industry figures were predicting the death of traditional call centre technology (which commonly uses interactive voice response (IVR)) due to the acceptance of the world-wide web.

It looks as though Japan will take over the lead in mobile telephones as its i-mode system gains ground while WAP gives way to GPRS, General Packet Radio Service, the halfway house to full scale 3G third generation phones. Here, Eric Russell explains why.

Even in the current economic downturn, the internet continues to experience exponential growth in data traffic. In order to accommodate and promote this growth we need not just higher capacity systems but ones that significantly reduced acost-per-bit-transmitted'. Harry J R Dutton and Andros Payne report.

European Food Information Council (EUFIC) outlines research trends which are aimed at making food healthier, safe and nicer to eat.

Fieldbus is expected to become more popular as systems offer compliance with the standard IEC 61508. This applies to safety-related control systems and will increase the safety aspect of control and monitoring in line with today's increased focus on industrial safety. Eric Russell reports.

It is an exciting time for food science and technology. On the one hand, the staggering capabilities of the new bioscience to change food materials and to understand their impact on human health challenge us continuously, raising economic, legal and ethical issues on a worldwide basis. Professor Peter Lillford, president of the Institute of Food Science & Technology, reports.

The food industry relies on numerous often complex processes, so it is no surprise that the best automation and control technologies developed for chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing are now helping improve efficiency for a whole new range of users.

Raman spectroscopy is already finding uses in the food industry, but now a new research project in Wales aims to develop an updated version of the technology so that it can be used for tasks such as assuring food authenticity.