GLOSSARY

Glossary for terms and acronyms found on LCA website (in alphabetical order). See Wikipedia - The free Encyclopedia for more extensive discussion and other uses of common scienitific terms such as ASSAY (click this link for an example). One can visit this site and use the search box to learn more about many scientific terms. For additional information, suggested search terms (combinations of words for internet search engines such as Google) are included at the end of some definitions.

ASSAY

an assay is a type of scientific experiment performed using a precisely defined scientific protocol . For example, the common medical test called a "blood test", is performed on a small specimen of blood taken from an individual patient. The result of a patient's "blood test" is actually a table of quantitative results. These quantitative results were produced by many different assays. Automated scientific equipment is often used to precisely execute the many tedious steps of a specific assay protocol. In some cases, a highly specialized and automated scientific instrument repeatedly executes the same assay on a constant stream of new specimens. Search terms: assay protocols (12.2 million hits, Google),diagnostic assays (2.8 million hits, Google).

 

VISUAL-SERVOING OPTICAL MICROSCOPY™ (VSOM™)

VSOM™ is a method, not a device. The VSOM™ method is defined in several issued and pending patents.The US VSOM™ Patent is available on-line. See our Publications and Presentations webpage for more details. Search terms: ("VISUAL-SERVOING OPTICAL MICROSCOPY", 15,000 hits, Google)