About the Authors Ahmad Sarakbi received his Master’s degree in Sciences in 2003 from Al-Baath University, Homs, Syria and his Ph.D. in Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2014 from the Universite´ libre de Bruxelles. He is currently performing a post doc at the Universite´ libre de Bruxelles at the Faculty of Pharmacy. His research interest includes the development of electro- chemical sensors for liquid chromatography. Ana Maria Oliveira Brett is professor in the Chemistry Department at Coimbra University, Portugal. Her research areas are in bioelectro- chemistry, the study of electron transfer reactions of antioxidants to understand the free-radical- induced damaging aspects of the chemistry of disease processes, bioelectroanalysis, and the development of enzymes and DNA biosensors. She is a member of several scientific societies and is presently the President of the International Bioelectrochemical Society (BES). She is Fellow of IUPAC and Royal Society of Chemistry (CChem, FRSC). Her research activity is documented by more than 200 papers and © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015 337 S.A. Ozkan et al., Electroanalysis in Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monographs in Electrochemistry, DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-47138-8 338 About the Authors chapters in multiauthor books, coauthor of 2 undergraduate/graduate textbooks “Electrochemistry. Principles, methods and applications,” 1993 and “Electroanal- ysis,” 1998, both Oxford University Press. Bengi Uslu received Pharmacist degree in 1990. She received her M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in the Faculty of Pharmacy in 1993 and 1999, respec- tively, from Ankara University. She was visiting Prof. Emil Palecek at the Institute of Biophysics, Lab of Biophysical Chemistry, and Molecular Oncology in Czech Republic with The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey’s fellowship in 2005. Her research interest focuses on electrochemical drug analysis, nanosensor, and biosensors. She worked there on protein elec- trochemistry. She had been an Associate Profes- sor at Ankara University from 2003 to 2009. She received Ankara University Scientific Promotion Award in 2008 and Ankara University Scientific Support Award in 2014. Since December 2009, she has been a Professor at the same department. She is author or coauthor of more than 100 published papers. Christopher Brett is a full professor of chemistry at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. His research interests include new nanostructured electrode materials and modified electrode surfaces, electro- chemical sensors and biosensors, electroactive polymers, corrosion and its inhibition, and applica- tions of electrochemistry in the environmental, food, and pharmaceutical areas, on which he has published more than 200 peer-reviewed research articles, as well as book chapters and coauthoring two textbooks. He is currently a member of the editorial board of the journals Electrochimica Acta, Electroanalysis, and Analytical Letters. He was President of the International Society of Elec- trochemistry (ISE) and is currently a member of the Bureau of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC). About the Authors 339 Cobra Parsajoo received her Master degree in analytical sciences in 2009 from the Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS)— Zanjan, Iran. She is currently Ph.D. student in Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Universite´ libre de Bruxelles. Her interest is the development of flow systems with an enzyme immobilized sensor for inhibition studies. Eric Rozet is Postdoctoral Researcher at the Ana- lytical Chemistry Laboratory of the University of Liege. He has more than 9 years of experience in nonclinical statistics: robust optimization, valida- tion, transfer, and uncertainty assessment. Eric has a B.Sc. degree in Bioengineering and a Ph. D. degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Jean-Michel Kauffmann was born in Arlon, Belgium, in 1954. He became a pharmacist from the University Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), in 1977, and earned a Ph.D. degree in pharmaceutical sciences in 1983 from the same University. He became full Professor in 1991 and Head of the laboratory of Instrumental Analysis and Bioelectrochemistry and of the Laboratory of Toxicology. He was Vice-Dean of Pharmaceuti- cal Institute (2003–2007), Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy of ULB (2007–2011), and Vice-Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy ULB (2011–2013). He was president of the Belgian Society of 340 About the Authors Pharmaceutical Sciences (2000–2006) and a member of the Flemish Science Foundation (FWO) Committee (1999–2005), the Belgian National Science Foun- dation (FNRS) Committee (2006–2009), Academia Iberoamericana de Farmacia, Sevilla Spain, since 1997, National Academy of Pharmacy Paris, France, since 2004, Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine, Brussels, Belgium, since 2013, and Doctor Honoris Causa at the Faculty of Medicine & Pharmacy University of Cluj Napoca Romania (2004). His research interests include development and characterization of electrochem- ical (bio)sensors and electrochemical sensors for HPLC analysis of peptides and small molecules, development of portable electrochemical sensors for trace metal analysis, study of the electrochemical behavior of pharmacologically active com- pounds as a mean for the early screening of drug metabolization (drug stability): CV, LC-EC-MS, and development of miniaturized electrochemical sensors for on-site drug therapy monitoring. He has published 157 papers and 23 chapters in books in the field of analytical chemistry with special emphasis on electroanalysis, biosensors, and modified electrodes for the investigation of compounds of pharmaceutical interest. He has expertise in the development of electroanalytical methods and in characterization of electrochemical sensors and biosensors with immobilized enzymes and antibodies. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Talanta since 1995 and a member of the Editorial board of: Electroanalysis, Analytical Letters, Talanta, Current Separations, Chimica Acta Turcica, J. Pharm. Belgique, FABAD, J. Pharm. Sciences of Ankara, The Open Anal.Chem. Journal, Anal.Pharm.Franc¸aise, Arabian J. Chem., Farmacia (Roma- nian review). Petr Zuman enrolled at Charles University in Prague in 1945 and graduated in early 1948. After this, he joined the research group of Jaroslav Heyrovsky´ (Nobel prize in chemistry 1959) and was awarded RNDr (equivalent to a Ph.D.) in 1950. He was one of the first researchers in the newly created Central Polarographic Insti- tute in Prague and within a few years he was appointed Head of the Organic Polarography Division. In 1960, Petr was awarded the Doctor of Science degree by the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Following the 1967 political upheaval in Czechoslovakia, Zuman obtained a three-and-one-half-year appointment as a research fellow at the University of Birmingham in England. In 1970, he accepted a position in the Chemistry Department at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, where he remained until his retirement. Postretirement Zuman has been a Distungusihed Emeritus Research Professor at Clarkson University and continues to contribute to the chemistry department. About the Authors 341 He was interested in reductions of aldehydes, ketones, quinones, nitro-, and nitrosocompounds, as well as in compounds with azomethine (C¼N) bonds) and their reactions with various nucleophiles, followed by reductions of single CÀOH and C-NR2 bonds activated by adjacent C¼OorC¼N and CÀX bonds. Homoge- À À À neous kinetics and equilibria involving additions of H2O, OH ,RS ,CN , and primary amines have been followed. The compounds of pharmaceutical and biological interest were studied barbitu- rates; thiobarbiturates; uracils and thiouracils; various steroids; vitamins like B2, B6, and B12, as well as ascorbic acid; reactions of 2,3-simercaptopropanol (BAL used for elimination of heavy metal ions from organism); pesticides; herbicides; compounds like Mitomycin C, Abacivir, and sildenafıl citrate (Viagra); antibiotics like penicillin, cefetamet, cefamycin, cephalosporins, and cefepime; and bile salts (and their reactions with heavy metal ions). Interactions of polymer lignin with various pesticides were as well investigated as well as its alkaline cleavage yielding useful products. Most recently, the mechanism of reactions of amines with orthophthalaldehyde were investigated, and it was detected that the reaction involves seven interlinked equilibria. The reaction is widely used for determination of amino acids. Absence of understanding of the mechanism leads to empirical choice of reaction conditions. More than 25 different reaction conditions have been reported in the literature, in which recommended concentrations differ in up to two orders of magnitude. Another active area are studies of electroreduction and electrooxidation of some organic compounds, such as aromatic nitrocompounds, various pesticides including maleic hydrazide, 1,3,5- and 1,2,4-triazines, selenous acid, mitomycin C, and phenols. Structure–reactivity relationships are investigated, for example, the transfer of electronic effects through an N–N single bond, ring formation of some 2-amino-1,4-benzoquinones, or interactions between two reducible groups in a molecule. Polarographic reduction of pesticides has been used to study their adsorption on lignin to determine their bioavailability in applications in forest nurseries. Studies of alkaline cleavage of lignin at room temperature will form a basis for the use of lignin (which is a renewable raw material) for future industrial