John E. Scott (enzyme assay researcher)

John E. Scott is an enzyme assay researcher and coauthor, with Kevin P. Williams, of guidance on validating enzyme preparations. The original byline associates both authors with the BRITE institute at North Carolina Central University when the chapter was prepared.^[ref]

Their methodological contribution separates three questions: is the intended enzyme present, what fraction of the protein material does it represent, and what fraction of the measured activity actually comes from it? Protein mass purity and enzymatic purity are different because a small contaminant can contribute disproportionately to an enzyme assay.^[ref]

Consider an invented preparation containing $99$ mass units of the intended enzyme and one of a contaminant. If that contaminant produces $100$ times as much assay signal per unit mass, the two components contribute $99$ and $100$ signal units. The intended enzyme supplies only $99/199\approx 49.7\%$ of the measured signal despite $99\%$ protein mass purity.