Method and protocol

The method performance study focuses on the analytical method. In order to achieve a constructive work the organiser should assure that the method to be used by the participants has been investigated in detail prior to the start of the interlaboratory study. This preliminary investigation should be undertaken by a senior analyst. It should lead to a detailed draft analytical protocol, to a clear definition of the type and number of samples to be distributed and analysed, to indications on the repeatability of the method and its long-term reproducibility. In parallel, a study on the production of proper samples should be undertaken. Additional materials can also be prepared, e.g. calibration tools (pure calibrants or solutions), or blanks with a similar matrix than the test sample, spiked materials, etc. 

When sufficient participants are available it is also possible to test on the same materials several methods. Each method should be applied in several laboratories. It may also be of interest to compare the method with an existing method or the non-automated to the automated version of the method. 

Only experienced laboratories with senior analysts should participate in method performance studies. Following the recommendations of lUPAC [2] at least 8 participants should deliver usable results for each test sample and each method or group of methods. When an international standard is used, participants from several countries should be involved. 

As already mentioned one or preferably several test materials should be produced and analysed by the group. W. Horwitz recommends at least five independent materials to properly evaluate the performance of the method. These can be materials of similar 

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P. Bailon, G.K. Ehrlich, W. Fung and W. Berthold (Eds), Affinity Chromatography Methods and Protocols, Humana Press, Totowa, 2000. ISBN 0896036944. 

Kristensen E. In vitro and in vivo studies on pharmacokinetics and metabolism of PNA constructs in rodents. In Peptide Nucleic Acids Methods and Protocols, Nielsen P. E. (Ed.). 2002, Humana Press (To-towa, N.J., United States) Copenhagen, pp. 259-269. 

Although elemental analysis (i.e. the determination of elements ranging from H to U) in a polymeric material is very common practice in the polymer industry, among polymer processors, research and application laboratories, and end-users, the analytical methods and protocols used are widely different and are not harmonised within the EC, let alone worldwide. Among the currently established 344 ISO methods for plastics, there are no ISO-approved methods available for... 

This chapter presents methods and protocols suitable for the identification and characterization of inhibitors of the prokaryotic and/or eukaryotic translational apparatus as a whole or targeting specific, underexploited targets of the bacterial protein synthetic machinery such as translation initiation and amino-acylation. Some of the methods described have been used successfully for the high-throughput screening of libraries of natural or synthetic compounds and make use of model universal mRNAs that can be translated with similar efficiency by cellfree extracts of bacterial, yeast, and HeLa cells. Other methods presented here are suitable for secondary screening tests aimed at identifying a ... 

RA LaRosa, ed. Bioluminescence Methods and Protocols. (Methods in Molecular Biology, Vol. 102). New Jersey The Humana Press, 1998. 

In this chapter, we shall review the various methods and protocols now available to perform free energy calculations. 

W.P. Janzen (Ed.), High Throughput Screening Methods and Protocols, Humana, Totowa, NJ, 2002. 

Finally, though Humana Press has published Electron Microscopy Methods and Protocols by M. A. Nasser Hajibagheri in 1999, Plant Electron Microscopy and Cytochemistry is dedicated to plant studies, and should be quite useful to professors, certain graduate and undergraduate students, and postdoctorals, as well as government and industrial scientists. 

It is important to emphasize that the Ts of a given sample is not a unique value, but rather depends on the analytical method and protocol employed, as well as a complete description of the sample, its composition (e.g., moisture content), and its history (i.e., under what conditions was it made... 

L. W. Summer, E. Urbanczyk Wochniak, and C. D. Broekling, Metabolomics data analysis, visualization, and integration, in Plant Bioinformatics Methods and Protocols, D. Edwards, ed., Humana Press, Towota, NJ, 2007, pp. 409 436. 

M. Lammerhofer and W. Lindner, in G. Giibitz and M.G. Schmid (eds.). Chiral Separations Methods and Protocols (Book Series Methods in Molecular Biology— Volume 243), Humana Press, Totowa, NJ, USA, pp. 323 (2004). 

Yan, Q. (2003) Pharmacogenomics of membrane transporters an overview, in Membrane transporters methods and protocols (Q. Yan, ed.). Methods in Molecular Biology, Humana, Totowa, NJ, pp. 1-20. 

Innocenti, F. Pharmacogenomics methods and protocols. Totowa, NJ Humana Press 2005. 

Gene Therapy Protocols Volume 1 Production and In Vivo Applications of Gene Transfer Vectors, edited by Joseph M. LeDoux, 2008 432. Organelle Proteomics, edited by Delphine Pflieger and Jean Rossier, 2008 431. Bacterial Pathogenesis Methods and Protocols, edited by Prank DeLeo and Michael Otto, 2008... 

The purposes of this chapter are to review available test methods and protocol designs for controlled human studies, to review and discuss published data, and to make recommendations for future studies. 

From Methods in Molecular Biology, Vol. 115 Immunocytochemical Methods and Protocols Edited by L. C. Javois Humana Press inc., Totowa, NJ... 

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