Analytical Methods Blog

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.

MSB 2017 was held from March 26th – 29th, in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands. Analytical Methods was involved in the best poster competition, along with sister journal Analyst 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 Analytical Methods sponsored prize, the award winner received a free, one year e-subscription to Analytical Methods. 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.

Analytical Methods and sister journal Analyst 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