bioassay

[ noun bahy-oh-uh-sey, -as-ey; verb bahy-oh-uh-sey ]

noun

1. determination of the biological activity or potency of a substance, as a vitamin or hormone, by testing its effect on the growth of an organism.

verb (used with object)

, bi·o·as·sayed, bi·o·as·say·ing.

1. to subject to a bioassay.

bioassay

noun

1. a method of determining the concentration, activity, or effect of a change to substance by testing its effect on a living organism and comparing this with the activity of an agreed standard

verb

1. tr to subject to a bioassay

bioassay

/ bī′ō-ăs′ā′,-ă-sā′ /

1. Determination of the relative purity of a substance, such as a drug or hormone, by comparing its effects with those of a standard preparation on a culture of living cells or a test organism.
2. A test used to determine such purity.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bioassay¹

First recorded in 1910–15; bio(logical) + assay

Example Sentences

So now I had a working bioassay, the essential step in biological experimentation.

From New York Times

The affinity-selection mass spectrometry bioassay is then used to rank the affinity of the reaction products to target proteins, removing the need for time-intensive reaction purification.

From Nature

A round of worker of bioassay tests conducted in the summer found contamination in 31 people.

From Seattle Times

After a June contamination incident, bioassay tests indicated that 31 workers inhaled or ingested small amounts of radioactive substances.

From Seattle Times

More than 250 workers also have requested bioassay tests to determine whether they breathed in contamination, and additional requests are expected as employees return from holiday leaves.

From Seattle Times