Life Science
Life sciences, or biosciences, are research disciplines that deal with processes or structures of living organisms. In addition to common biology, Life sciences also include related fields such as medicine, biomedicine, zoology, entomology, pharmacy, biochemistry, chemistry, molecular biology, biophysics, bioinformatics and particularly human biology.
Xylem plays an important role in the life sciences arena; directly measuring core water quality control parameters such as pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, salt content and temperature within a laboratory environment that mirrors the natural habitat of mammalian cells, bacteria or fungi to enable successful mass cultivation for experimental or production reasons as well as for indirectly determining biomass. Likewise, zoologists and entomologists will turn to special low volume handheld refractometers so that the sugar content of nectar can be analysed in the field as part of wildlife habitation experiments.
Importantly, many parameters measured by Xylem brand instruments are used in pharmaceutical production and research. pH to check neutrality of ointments and cosmetics, salt content to quantify eye-drop concentration, residual oxygen as a check for sterility, refractive index or specific rotation to ensure raw materials are pure and titration to ensure proper production in accordance with Pharmacopeia (EP/US/JP/BP).
Xylem’s YSI brand also offers a biochemistry analyser specifically suited for the online control of bioprocesses and biomass production.