JAAS News

1st Workshop on Biomedical Applications of Geochemistry

Rebecca Brodie, Deputy Editor — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:28:58 +0000

We are pleased to announce the first Workshop on Biomedical Applications of Geochemistry that will be held at Gargonza, Tuscany (http://www.gargonza.it/index.html) after the Florence Goldschmidt conference from the 30th Aug (evening) to the 1st Sept (afternoon).

Gargonza, Italy, 30th Aug-1st Sept.

You can register for the workshop here.

This workshop will be the opportunity to present new results on the growing field of the use of natural stable isotope fractionation in biomedicine, both for understanding homeostasis in normal and pathological conditions and as potential new biomarkers. This will be also the chance for scientists coming from isotopic mass spectrometry (IRMS and MC-ICPMS) and from biomedicine to meet for setting up an authentic interdisciplinary community devoted to the development of stable isotopes in health sciences.

Committed speakers for this event are Francis Albarède (ENS Lyon), Ariel Anbar (Arizona State University), Anton Eisenhauer (Geomar), Frank Vanhaecke (Ghent University), Thomas Walczyk (National University of Singapore).

For any information about the workshop, please write to Vincent.Balter@ens-lyon.fr.

We are also pleased to announce that the works presented at Gargonza will be invited to submit to Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry and Metallomics for a themed web collection of papers.

JAAS Issue 6 is out now!

Paola Quattroni, Development Editor — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:50:32 +0000

A great new issue of JAAS is now available online! Take a look at our brilliant covers and enjoy the latest research in the field of atomic spectrometry in cultural heritage and geology analyses.

Our beautiful outside front cover shows the front facade of the Cathedral of Malaga, one of the best architectural features of the region of Andalusia in Spain. Researchers at the University of Malaga analysed the materials composing the main facade and the pollutants present on the surface by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). Using this technique, they were able to thoroughly characterise the sandstones, marbles and metals composing the most highlighted section of the main facade and identified the most relevant pollutants that are damaging the appearance of this historical building.

Evaluating the use of standoff LIBS in architectural heritage: surveying the Cathedral of Málaga
I. Gaona, P. Lucena, J. Moros, F. J. Fortes, S. Guirado, J. Serrano and J. J. Laserna
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2013,28, 810-820
DOI: 10.1039/C3JA50069A

The inside front cover of this issue introduces the work of Detlef Gunther and colleagues at the Swiss Federal institute of Technology, ETH, Switzerland. In their paper, the researchers used laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for quantitative analysis of element content in solid material. In particular, they designed and optimised a large-capacity gas exchange device (Q-GED) and demonstrated its efficiency on large stalagmite samples.

Aerosol entrainment and a large-capacity gas exchange device (Q-GED) for laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in atmospheric pressure air
Daniel Tabersky, Kohei Nishiguchi, Keisuke Utani, Masaki Ohata, Rolf Dietiker, Mattias B. Fricker, Ivo M. de Maddalena, Joachim Koch and Detlef Günther
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2013,28, 831-842
DOI: 10.1039/C3JA50044F

Along with the new covers of the issue, here are some selected HOT articles free for you to enjoy until June 10^th. Click on the links below:

Trace element analysis of human urine collected after administration of Gd-based MRI contrast agents: characterizing spectral interferences using inorganic mass spectrometry
Amy J. Steuerwald, Patrick J. Parsons, John G. Arnason, Zhen Chen, C. Matthew Petersond and Germaine M. Buck Louis
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2013,28, 821-830
DOI: 10.1039/C3JA30331D

Comparative oxidation state specific analysis of arsenic species by high-performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry and hydride generation-cryotrapping-atomic absorption spectrometry
Jenna M. Currier, R. Jesse Saunders, Lan Ding, Wanda Bodnar, Peter Cable, Tomáš Matoušek, John T. Creed and Miroslav Stýblo
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2013,28, 843-852
DOI: 10.1039/C3JA30380B

Platinum stable isotope ratio measurements by double-spike multiple collector ICPMS
John Creech, Joel Baker, Monica Handler, Martin Schiller and Martin Bizzarro
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2013,28, 853-865
DOI: 10.1039/C3JA50022E

Analysing historical artifacts in a non-destructive manner

Paola Quattroni, Development Editor — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:05:25 +0000

Isotope determination by portable laser ablation sampling

A portable laser ablation sampling device can help analyse valuable historical artifacts.

The study is shown in a paper just published in JAAS by Advisory Board member Detlef Günther and colleagues at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH, Zürich, Switzerland.

The researchers used laser ablation coupled to a multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) to determine lead isotopes in Chinese ceramics, and applied a portable device to enable remote analysis. Laser generated aerosol samples were collected on membrane filters and consequently analysed in the laboratory by LA-ICPMS. With the new device, sampling of objects is independent of their location, size and shape.

This new method showed an analytical performance similar to a laboratory-based analysis and enabled simultaneous isotopic and elemental analysis without invasive sampling such as scraping or drilling of the objects.

To know more about this study, please access the link below. This paper will be free to read until May 24^th.

Isotope ratio determination of objects in the field by portable laser ablation sampling and subsequent multicollector ICPMS
Reto Glaus, Ladina Dorta, Zhiguo Zhang, Qinglin Ma, Heinz Berke and Detlef Günther
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3JA30379A

Gordon F. Kirkbright Bursary Award, 2014

Kate Bandoo, Publishing Assistant — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:52:17 +0000

The Gordon F. Kirkbright bursary award is a prestigious annual award that enables a promising student/non-tenured young scientist of any nation to attend a recognised scientific meeting or visit a place of learning.
The fund for this bursary was established in 1985 as a memorial to Professor Gordon Kirkbright in recognition of his contributions to analytical spectroscopy and to science in general. Although the fund is administered by the Association of British Spectroscopists (ABS) Trust, the award is not restricted to spectroscopists.

Applications are invited for the 2014 Gordon Kirkbright Bursary.

For further information contact John Chalmers at, email: vibspecconsult@aol.com

The closing date for entries is 31 December 2013.

CYTO 2013, May 19-22, San Diego, USA

Rebecca Brodie, Deputy Editor — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:49:34 +0000

To celebrate the upcoming CYTO 2013 conference being held in San Diego, May 19-22, we thought we would highlight again our new web collection on Analytical Atomic Spectrometry in Biomedical Sciences!

All the JAAS papers included in this collection highlight the latest achievements in analytical atomic spectrometry and the applications of spectroscopy-based bioanalytical technology in clinics and biology.

If you work in this area why not submit your next paper to JAAS?

To view the full list of articles, take a look at our Web Collection now!

Here are some interesting selected papers free for you to enjoy for the the end of May. To read the full articles, please click on the links below:

Direct speciation analysis of inorganic elements in single cells using X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Application of plasma spectrometry for the analysis of engineered nanoparticles in suspensions and products
Petra Krystek, Andrea Ulrich, Carmen Cecilia Garcia, Srirang Manohar and Rob Ritsema
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2011, 26, 1701-1721
DOI: 10.1039/C1JA10071H

Detection of selenoproteins in human cell extracts by laser ablation-ICP MS after separation by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and blotting

Direct speciation analysis of inorganic elements in single cells using X-ray absorption spectroscopy
Richard Ortega
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2011, 26, 23-29
DOI: 10.1039/C0JA00153H

Immunoaffinity assisted LC-ICP-MS—a versatile tool in biomedical research
S. Hann, K. Boeck and G. Koellensperger
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2010, 25, 18-20
DOI: 10.1039/B911462A

Detection of selenoproteins in human cell extracts by laser ablation-ICP MS after separation by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and blotting
Juliusz Bianga, Guillaume Ballihaut, Christophe Pécheyran, Zahia Touat, Hugues Preud’homme, Sandra Mounicou, Laurent Chavatte, Ryszard Lobinski and Joanna Szpunar
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, 27, 25-32
DOI: 10.1039/C1JA10239G

The Next Generation-Interview with Luca Flamigni

Martín Resano — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:18:21 +0000

We are starting a new section in JAAS News in which we will try to find out the views of the younger generation of atomic spectroscopists. Today, we are publishing an interview with Luca Flamigni, who is currently a PhD student in Detlef Gunther’s group at ETH Zürich (Switzerland).

Luca Flamigni in his lab at ETH Zürich

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

I have always been interested in technical and scientific aspects of life and nature. I think I inherited this curiosity from my father, who is a biologist and teaches science and mathematics in a secondary school.

Why did you choose your research group/University and what factors influenced your choice?

After my MSc in chemistry at ETH, I decided to pursue a PhD in analytical chemistry. At that point, I had done three projects in analytical chemistry at ETH and I was convinced that mass spectrometry was appealing the most to me. After being accepted as a student by Prof. Günther, I had no more doubts that analytical chemistry was my field of interest and joined his group for micro and trace analysis. ETH has a great infrastructure, is a world-class university, and is not too far from my home town.

Can you explain a bit the purpose of your current research activities?

My work is dedicated to a better understanding of the processes occurring inside the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) for mass spectrometric analysis of laser-produced aerosols. The theoretical considerations and experimental results obtained during my thesis will lead to new quantification strategies and instrumental developments on the ICP side.

How is a typical day in your lab?

I have two different typical days, depending on whether I am doing measurements or working at the computer. When I work in the lab, I usually try to get everything up and running until lunch, which is very early – at around eleven – in our group. Then, in the afternoon, I first run the most important experiments, which are on my schedule. If there is time left, I continue with what I thought of during the first experiments. If I am working in the office, I usually do repetitive, bureaucratic and easier tasks in the morning, when I tend to be less creative, then I do all the programming and interpretation in the afternoon.

What common activities are organized in your research group?

Our group is known for its good social life. For every accepted manuscript, the first author invites all group members for a drink after work. A few times every semester we meet for a barbecue or a drink for special occasions and when we have visitors. Other than that, every two years there is a group retreat, where we gather somewhere for two or three days. Last time we went to a castle close to the Lake Constance in the North-East of Switzerland. It was really a picturesque place to visit.

What app/programs do you typically use?

Everybody here in the lab knows me as an ImageJ enthusiast. ImageJ is a free piece of software used for image processing and microscopy. I do most of my work with it and have a folder full of useful macros to perform many tasks, such as size determination of micro-droplets, evaluation of SEM pictures, particle tracking etc. Beside the typical programs (Microsoft Office, Origin, SigmaPlot, LabVIEW, Adobe Photoshop), I am sometimes programming in Java using the NetBeans IDE and I recently started to experiment with Comsol for the simulation of flow systems.

How do you search for scientific information? How do you manage your bibliography?

I read at least twice a week the “recent articles” pages of JAAS and of the other analytical chemistry journals. When I find something interesting, I add the bibliographic information to Zotero, which is a browser plugin. When I do bibliographic research for a paper, I use SciFinder, which is a very powerful tool provided by the ETH library. I also use Google Scholar, which is helpful to retrieve information from outside the field of analytical chemistry. When I write a paper, I import the bibliography I have in Zotero into EndNote, which integrates well with Microsoft Word.

Which type of articles do you prefer?

We are forced to read broader, but clearly I like the articles on ICP-MS. Many of them are dealing with laser ablation and I find them always very interesting. Recently, I started to pay more attention also to the LIBS articles. LIBS is having a sort of revival, and it is a technique, which is related to LA-ICP-MS, even though sampling and plasma are not separated. This feature is the reason for both its advantages (simplicity, cost) and its disadvantages (quantification capabilities, robustness) in comparison with LA-ICP-MS. I like how both techniques are advancing over time and I think that they both have a lot of potential.

What do you like and dislike the most about your work?

I especially like that I can both spend time in the lab and at the computer. This makes the work much more interesting and less repetitive. I also enjoy the freedom I have in planning and designing the experiments and see myself as lucky, because I can directly access so many tools and services at ETH, from the mechanical workshop to the chemical warehouse. What I do not like so much here in Zurich is the weather, which is quite dark and gray all year long. In addition, this is sometimes reflected on the mood of people, who tend to be gloomy.

What do you expect to be doing in 5 years time?

This is a very tough question. I hope that I will be doing something related to analytical chemistry, or at least science and technology in general. I am very open to new challenges, but I believe that I have learnt a lot about what is achievable nowadays with modern instrumentation and I would like to exploit this knowledge. I actually have a personal interest in forensics and criminology, which I may try to cultivate professionally.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not in the lab?

Contrarily to most Swiss people, I am not a very sporty person. I like to play tennis from time to time and to ski during the winter, but my principal hobbies are actually indoors. I play the piano – mostly jazz and blues – and I enjoy composing music on my computer. I have a digital piano, a synthesizer and I am a proud owner of a keytar, which is a keyboard that one can hold like a guitar. I also like digital photography and electronics, and to relax I like to watch movies and to play computer games.

Thanks a lot for your detailed answers, Luca!

Have a look at the most recents articles authored by Luca below!

Visualization, velocimetry, and mass spectrometric analysis of engineered and laser-produced particles passing through inductively coupled plasma sources

Luca Flamigni, Joachim Koch, Helmar Wiltsche, Robert Brogioli, Sabrina Gschwind and Detlef Günther

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012,27, 619-625
DOI: 10.1039/C2JA10317F, Paper

Capabilities of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for the detection of nanoparticles carried by monodisperse microdroplets

Sabrina Gschwind, Luca Flamigni, Joachim Koch, Olga Borovinskaya, Sebastian Groh, Kay Niemax and Detlef Günther

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2011,26, 1166-1174

DOI: 10.1039/C0JA00249F, Communication

Allan Ure Bursary – Call for Applications

Kate Bandoo, Publishing Assistant — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:34:21 +0000

Allan Ure Bursary – Call for Applications
DEADLINE: 31st May 2013

The Allan Ure Bursary is awarded on an annual basis, alternately by the Atomic Spectroscopy Group of the Analytical Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry (ASG, AD, RSC) and the Atomic Spectrometry Updates (ASU) Editorial Board.

The award is presented to a scientist, at the start of their career, who the adjudicators believe has made a significant contribution to knowledge in the area of the application of atomic spectrometry to environmental science. The successful applicant will receive £500 to help with any expenses that may be of benefit to their career.

Who can apply?
Applicants need not be specialised analytical chemists and may come from fields as diverse as geology, biology, oceanography, geography and environmental science. They will, however, have to demonstrate that they use atomic spectrometry on a regular basis for their work. The scope of the Atomic Spectrometry Update – Environmental Analysis, published each year in the February issue of the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry may be taken as guidance.

Applications
Applications should be made electronically and consist of the applicant’s Curriculum Vitae plus a covering letter which clearly states how the bursary will be used and how the applicant believes this will benefit their career. The name of one referee (normally the applicant’s line manager) who is familiar with the applicant’s recent work should also be provided.

Applications may be submitted to ASG electronically to Dr A Fisher, afisher@plymouth.ac.uk

Further Information
Details of past winners and further information can be found on the ASG Website.

Mars: Where the Sky is Orange

Paola Quattroni, Development Editor — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:14:10 +0000

Sirven et al. featured on the front cover of JAAS, 2007, Issue 12

Yesterday the Royal Society of Chemistry had the pleasure to meet the driver of the Mars Curiosity rover Paolo Bellutta who revealed the secrets of Mars one year after the first ‘landing’ in 2012.

You might remember the paper published in 2007 in JAAS about ChemCam, the powerful instrument now functional part of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover used to study the red planet.

ChemCam uses laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to remotely analyse the surface of Mars looking into the chemistry of its rocks.

Jean-Baptiste Servien and colleagues at CEA Saclay, France, introduced the three chemometric approaches used by ChemCam to study the rocks on the surface of Mars in the paper entitled Feasibility study of rock identification at the surface of Marsby remote laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and three chemometric methods.

Mars Curiosity rover on the red planet

Last August, Curiosity successfully landed at Gale Crater on the planet Mars. Paolo Bellutta, Rover’s driver from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explained what is behind a one-ton vehicle that is able to land in such a hostile place where the wind runs at 400Km/h, the temperature reaches -90°C and the sky turns orange.

How do we drive on Mars? And what are we doing on Mars ? To know everything about the Mars Mission watch the video soon available on The Reaction website.

Free for you until May 13th: Feasibility study of rock identification at the surface of Mars by remote laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and three chemometric methods
Jean-Baptiste Sirven, Béatrice Sallé, Patrick Mauchien, Jean-Luc Lacour, Sylvestre Maurice and Gérard Manhès
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2007, 22, 1471-1480
DOI: 10.1039/B704868H