Analyst Blog

The Newton fund workshop on exploring new collaborations – working at the chemistry microbiology interface to develop new antibiotics is being held from 14th – 18th December, 2017, at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases in Bengaluru, India.

One of the largest issues that modern medicine is currently facing is how to combat the emergence of bacteria which is resistant to antibiotics. With potentially fatal ramifications worldwide, this is an area of research which is clearly vital. As such, Public Health England (PHE) and the Rajiv Gandhi Institue of Chest Diseases (RGICD) are combing forces for a five day residential workshop.

The workshop is aimed at early stage scientists from India and the UK, with a rough split of 20 participants from each country. Successful applicants will benefit from a hugely valuable mentoring system from luminaries in the fields of medicinal medicine,  clinical microbiology and translational research.

The cost of travel, visas, accommodation and meals will all be covered by the organisers.

Application Deadline: 15th September 2017

Click here to find out more

The first TISuMR Symposium on Tissue Culture and Magnetic Resonance will take place from 24th – 27th September, 2017, in Winchester, UK.

The culture of tissue under controlled conditions holds great promise for the future of medicine and the life sciences in general. While the study of cells provides detailed insight into biological processes at the molecular and supra-molecular scale, understanding many disease processes requires a more systemic approach.

Culture of  tissues, either from organ samples or grown entirely in vitro, can provide insight at the organ system level, revealing not only the function of individual cell types, but also their interaction with each other as well as with the extracellular matrix.

Combining advanced microfluidic lab-on-a-chip approaches to tissue culture with non-invasive, in-situ NMR investigation of life processes is the central theme of the TISuMR project. This symposium will bring together clinical experts on liver pathology,  researchers working on microfluidic tissue culture,  and scientists developing novel magnetic resonance techniques, with the following aims:

• Exchange ideas across discipline boundaries.
• Discuss opportunities and challenges in the field.
• Establish the potential of the TISuMR approach for developing liver disease models.
• Foster mutual understanding between the biomedical and technical aspects of the project.

The technical program will feature a number of leading scientists in the fields of hepatology, microfluidic technology, and magnetic resonance as keynote speakers. In addition, members of the TISuMR team will present their projects and early results.

Register here for the conference

Electrochem 2017 will be held at the University of Birmingham, UK, from Sunday 10th – Tuesday 12th September, 2017

The Electrochem 2017 annual meeting is organised by the Electrochemistry, and Electroanalytical & Sensors Interest Groups of the RSC, and the Society of Chemistry & Industry (SCI). In 2017, it will also include the 58th Corrosion Science Symposium, the annual meeting of the Institute of Corrosion (Corrosion Science Division).

The Corrosion Science Symposium has been held annually since its launch in 1960 by Prof. L.L. Shreir. It is an ideal opportunity for students and young researchers in corrosion science from across Europe to congregate, discuss their work, share ideas and, above all, enjoy themselves in a stimulating environment. Contributions are invited in all areas of corrosion science and engineering.

Confirmed speakers:

Faraday medal winner: Professor Marc Koper, Leiden University
Fleischmann lecturer: Professor Stephen Fletcher

Registration closes on Friday 25th August.

Click here to register

The Analytical Research Forum 2017 was held on the 7^th of July at Burlington House in London. The interdisciplinary one-day event featured invited talks, flash presentations and poster presentations on an impressive range of analytical techniques and applications. From the analysis of the hidden art beneath Rembrandt’s paintings to conducting life science experiments in outer space, the variety and calibre of work was of the highest standard.

Invited talks were given by Elaine Holmes (Imperial College, UK), Perdita Barran (University of Manchester, UK), David Peggie (National Gallery, UK) and Tony Ricco (NASA Research Laboratory, USA). Contributed talks and flash presentation sessions also enabled more participants to present a snapshot of their research to the analytical community.

Prizes were awarded by the RSC Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund to the best contributed talks and flash presentations. We are pleased to offer our congratulations to the prize winners:

• Becki Scott (KU Leuven, Belgium), Contributed Talk, First Prize
• Thomas Smith (University of Sheffield, UK), Contributed Talk, Second Prize
• Ryan Kane (University of Strathclyde, UK), Flash Presentation, First Prize
• Yuko P. Y. Lam (University of Warwick, UK) and Emily Kempa (University of Manchester, UK), Flash Presentations, joint Second Prize.

The Royal Society of Chemistry also awarded subscriptions to our journals Analyst, Analytical Methods and Lab on a Chip as prizes for the best posters on the day. We are delighted to recognise the excellent work of the following prize recipients:

• Fay Nicolson (University of Strathclyde, UK) for a poster entitled “Through barrier detection using handheld surface enhanced spatially offset Raman spectroscopy”
• Saba Al-Obaidy (Hull University, UK) for a poster entitled “Simple microfluidic platform to evaluate biological inspired nano-particles for focussed delivery of anti-bacterials”
• Andrew Donohoe (Dublin City University, Ireland) for a poster entitled “Development of cost effective sensors for the in-situ monitoring of heavy metals”

Congratulations to Fay, Saba and Andrew for presenting top class analytical research!

Andrew Donohoe and Fay Nicholson accept their awards from Melissa Hanna-Brown,
President of the Royal Society of Chemistry Analytical Division

Congratulations to all the prize winners and many thanks to all the participants who contributed to a vibrant and exciting meeting!

‘Newton Fund Researcher Links Workshop’ will be held at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, from 6th – 8th November, 2017.

The ‘Newton Fund Researcher Link Workshop’ provides opportunities for early career researchers from the UK and internationally to interact, learn from each other and explore opportunities for building long-lasting research collaborations. As part of this programme, early career researchers are now being recruited to participate in the workshop.

The workshop will provide a unique opportunity for sharing research expertise and networking. During the workshops, early career researchers will have the opportunity to present their research in the form of a poster/short oral presentation and discuss this with established researchers from the UK and partner countries. There will be a focus on building up links for future collaborations and participants selected on the basis of their research potential and ability to build longer term links.

The Newton Fund will cover the costs related to the participation to the workshop, including: travel (both international and local), accommodation and meals. Costs for the visa will be covered; however, participants will be responsible for making all the necessary arrangements. Although this cost will not be covered by the Newton Fund participants are encouraged to purchase an adequate travel and medical insurance.

Registration deadline: 31 July 2017

Click here to find out more

You are cordially invited to the Microfluidics Congress: USA in Philadelphia on 24th – 26th July 2017. Join our community of leading academics and scientists from biotechnology & pharmaceuticals organizations who are working to transform healthcare by harnessing the developments of these new and overlapping technologies.

Microfluidics is a rapidly developing area of research, and scientists are continually discovering the wide range of possibilities the technology can provide. At the intersection of engineering, physics, chemistry, nanotechnology, and biotechnology, microfluidics is revolutionizing the way patients are diagnosed, monitored and treated, and is unlocking the potential for reduced reagent consumption and thus, cost.


The conference will examine the latest developments in the technologies and techniques being used for progressing medical research, as well as the challenges and future of microfluidics. Registration is now open here.

Some of the topics to be covered:


• Point-of-care diagnostics
• Organ-on-a-chip
• Droplet microfluidics
• Microfabrication
• Isolation and analysis of CTCs
• 3D printing of microfluidic devices
• Single-cell analysis
• Commercialization and venture capitalism

Keynote speakers will include Lab on a Chip Editor-in-Chief  Abraham Lee and Advisory Board member George Whitesides. See the agenda for further details.



Enhance your itinerary with pre & post event workshops. Lab on a Chip Advisory Board member Holger Becker (microfluidic ChipShop GmbH), will lead a 4 hour workshop on Lab-on-a-Chip technologies as an enabling technology for new product development in diagnostics and the life sciences.

Analytical Chemical Days 2017 will be held at Université de Ngaoundéré, Cameroon, from 27th – 29th September.

The conference is a fantastic chance for researchers to present their research results, share and learn multidisciplinary research, and create collaborations between research teams. As well as this, Analyst is proud to be supporting Analytical Chemical Days by offering the winner of the poster prize a free subscription to Analyst.

Topics covered 

T1: Physical, chemical and microbiological analysis of water
T2: Optimisation of decontamination processes in contaminated water
T3: Dynamics of contaminants in ecosystems (water, plants, soils and air)
T4: Electrochemical sensors and biosensors
T5: Electrochemical engineering: development of new electrode materials
T6: Environmental biotechnology and waste treatment

Key Date

15th July: Registration payment deadline

Click here to register for Analytical Chemical Days

MSB 2017 was held from March 26th – 29th, in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands. Analyst was involved in the best poster competition, along with sister journal Analytical Methods and fellow RSC journal Lab on a Chip. The competition was Judged by an international panel of scientists, which was chaired by Dr Monika Dittman, Agilent Technologies, Germany. All posters were judged on the following criteria:

Novelty and originality of the work, creativity and potential for innovation;

Scope of work, technical quality of experimental design, and execution of experiments;

Readability of the presentation and author’s explanations.

For the Analyst sponsored prize, the award winner received a free, one year e-subscription to Analyst. Congratulations to all of the prize winners.

Three of the best poster award winners, along with conference co-chair Rawi Ramautar (far left) and chair of the poster prize award panel, Monika Dittman (far right)

BiosenseDementia 2017 will be held at Plymouth University, England, from 13th – 14th June.

Plymouth University is pleased to announce hosting of a two-day international workshop for biosensors for dementia from the 13th – 14th June 2017. This is the first international workshop for nanotechnology based sensors for dementia detection to be hosted at Plymouth University jointly with Swansea University and funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK.

The International Workshop on Biosensors for Dementia combines expert academics and researchers from industry and healthcare. It is a fantastic chance to share knowledge in dementia diagnosis and biosensor development.  This important event will consist of plenary and invited talks, along with submitted papers and poster presentations.

Key Date

Early bird registration deadline: 21st April

Find out more here

HPLC 2017 is due to be held from 18th – 22nd June, in Prague, Czech Republic

   It is our great pleasure and honor to invite you to HPLC 2017 Prague symposium organized for the first time in the Czech Republic. The HPLC symposium series is well known as the world leading forum for the information exchange among researchers dealing with separations in liquid phases and supercritical fluids. The conference program covers all aspects of fundamental and experimental approaches, novel instrumentation, column technologies and cutting-edge applications & instrumentation. The important feature is the coupling with mass spectrometry therefore one program track is devoted to hyphenated techniques only. The large exhibition enables to meet leading vendors presenting their latest technical innovations.

Analyst and sister journal Analytical Methods are pleased to be supporting the symposium, which is shaping up to be yet another high quality HPLC event.

Key Dates

17th April, 2017: Abstract deadline for poster presentations

1st May, 2017: Deadline for regular registration payment

1st May, 2017: Final programme confirmed

1st June: Abstract deadline for late breaking posters

Click here to view the full programme