Nanoanalytics for industrial applications, biosensors, diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of stem cells - the Analytica conference addresses the hottest topics in analytical and bioanalytical research
Researchers from all over the world leading in their respective disciplines provide information about cutting-edge results of fundamental research at universities.
The conference offers approximately 120 lectures focusing on the three main topic areas "Consumer protection and confidence building through analytics", "New challenges to analytical methods: Nano and microstructures and new materials" as well as "From Gene to Life".
Some of the highlights of the Analytica conference are six plenary lectures.
Two of them will be held by the award winners of the newly established Analytica research award, founded by Roche and awarded by the GBM.
The award winners will be announced on the first day of the Analytica, 1 April 2008, and will start off the Analytica conference with their lectures at 9:30am.
Nano analytics provide new impulses.
One plenary lecture is also dedicated to nanoanalytics - one of the main topic areas of this year's conference: Harald Fuchs, director of the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the University of Munster, co-founder and scientific director of the Center of Nanotechnology (Centech) in Munster, and also a member of the Institute of Nanotechnology (INT) at the Karlsruhe Research Center, is considered one of the foremost nanoscientists in Europe.
In addition to many other awards, in 1994 Prof Fuchs received the lucrative Philip Morris Research Award for his work in nanotechnology.
Fuchs and his staff have published over 300 scientific articles and presented their work in more than 500 conference presentations.
The application relevant work is protected by more than 30 patent applications.
Fuchs is also co-founder of two nanotechnology companies.
At the Analytica conference, he will discuss his materials research on the atomic level, which he performs with the help of scanning electron and atomic force microscopy.
He researches thin, organic layers and biological materials.
This research provides critical information about the structure and attribute relationships of organic/anorganic boundary layers.
It has important practical applications, and helps to better understand the adhesion characteristics of various materials and the stability of molecular layers on surfaces.
These new findings also help further develop analytics - eg, with regard to new, optimised, nanoanalytical measuring methods for nanomedicine that are expected to make new therapeutic and diagnostic procedures possible.
System biology - a valuable medical ally.
The plenary lecture held by Jan van der Greef on Wednesday 2 April deals with the interconnection of modern, highly selective, mass spectrometric analysis procedures and how they can be used in system biology and medicine.
The professor for analytical life sciences at the University of Leiden and director of the System Biology Department of TNO Pharma, Zeist, Netherlands, focuses his research on the complex and dynamic progression of life processes by using analytical methods (mass spectrometry) and bioinformatics.
This scientific discipline is called system biology.
The results of his research are of great importance for the fields of medicine and bio-pharmacy, since they make it possible to detect differences between healthy and sick persons on the levels of genes, proteins, and metabolic products.
The research results are already being implemented by startup companies such as SU BioMedicine, BG Medicine and Kiadis.
Van der Greef has received several awards for his work, which he has reported on in more than 300 scientific publications and more than 200 lectures.
His awards include an honorary doctorate from the University of Gent, an honorary professorship at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Scheele Prize of the Swedish Academy for Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Trace elements analysis in life sciences.
Ryszard Lobinski received his title of professor at the Technical University of Warsaw and became a researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique after having worked at the Institute for Spectroscopy and Applied Spectrometry (Isas) in Dortmund and at the University of Antwerp.
As research director at the CNRS in Pau, he was in charge of the group for bioinorganic analytical chemistry.
He also taught analytical chemistry at the Technical University of Warsaw, is co-director of UltraTrace Analyses Aquitaine, a startup company at the University of Pau, and chairman of the Iupac commission on microanalysis and trace analysis.
In his plenary lecture held in Munich on his work on trace analysis and chemical bonding types (species) of these elements in life sciences, he presents the latest advances made regarding connecting chromatographic and electrophoretic separation processes by using trace-element and molecular mass spectrometry.
His lecture addresses the latest developments in the fields of metalloproteomics, metallometabolomics and metallomics - this is what the scientific disciplines are called that form the basis for the determination of metal-ion concentrations and metal species in proteins, metabolic products, and in the cell.
In focus: cancer immune therapy.
The plenary lecturer invited by the DGKL is Carl Borrebaeck, director of the Department of Immune Technology at the University of Lund in Sweden.
Not only is he a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering and various scientific committees, he is also the co-founder of BioInvent International and Alligator Bioscience.
His scientific interest lies mainly in cancer immune therapy.
His more than 250 publications in international journals mainly deal with human recombinant antibodies and the function of B-lymphocytes in normal and diseased immune systems.
Prof Borrebaeck was fascinated early on by the fact that life is made possible by lifeless molecules.
And thus he began studies on the molecular mechanisms of the immune system.
Now he tries to use his knowledge for the benefit of biomedicine - for new medications and disease prevention.
In his plenary lecture "Affinity-based protein chips: Diagnostic applications in oncology" he will focus on the diagnostic application possibilities of this new technology.
