Today, we interview Lieve Balcaen, a post-doctoral researcher at Ghent University.

Lieve Balcaen in her lab in Ghent

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

As a teenager, I realized soon that mathematics and sciences were my favorite subjects at school, rather than languages or history. I like to work with objective facts and numbers and solving problems and equations has always been one of my favorite subjects in school. My specific interest for Chemistry was stirred by my Chemistry teachers. They convinced me of the importance of Chemistry in our daily life and they inspired me to find my own way in this interesting field.

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

The choice for Ghent University was mainly based on the combination of its good reputation and its location close to my hometown.

During my Chemistry studies, I learned that I preferred analyzing samples and results over creating molecules and that’s where my love for instrumental analysis was born. The interesting projects and applications that were presented during a visit to the Atomic & Mass Spectrometry (A&MS) lab, led by Prof. Vanhaecke, and the great atmosphere among the group members, were the most important incentives for me to join the A&MS group.

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

The A&MS research unit mainly focuses on the development of analytical methods, based on ICP-MS and ICP-OES for the determination, speciation and isotopic analysis of a huge variety of sample types. Most of our research projects originate in an analytical problem encountered by colleagues from other fields (medical doctors, archeologists, ecotoxicologists, geologists, biologists etc.) or industrial partners. After discussing the problem and the pros and contras of the technique, we try to develop sensitive and accurate methods that allow us to meet the needs of our partners and simultaneously, give us the opportunity to explore the capabilities of the different instruments we have at our availability in the lab.

How is a typical day in your lab?

What I like most about my job, is that there is no “typical day” in the lab. While for several years, my days mostly consisted of sample preparation in the lab, analyses with one of our instruments or evaluating data, nowadays I am evolving more and more in the direction of guiding PhD-students and the more “administrative” part of the job (fund raising, management, etc.).

Next to research, I am also involved in lecturing at the university. My main task here is to teach bachelor students in Chemistry how to deal with problems in Analytical Chemistry, such as pH calculations, solubility, potentials, … and the basic principles of spectroscopic analysis. As a member of the Chemistry educational board, I also try to contribute to the quality of training of the future generations of chemists.

What common activities are organized in your research group?

Some of my colleagues are really good at organizing social activities, so every year we have a barbecue, a Christmas party and a teambuilding activity in our department. On a regular basis we give small receptions to welcome new group members and most people also bring treats to work for their birthday. Once a year, we go out for dinner with all A&MS-members. These activities are a good way to strengthen the link between colleagues, also on a personal level.

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

Whenever I need scientific information, I start my search via the Web of Science (and more recently also Google Scholar).

To keep track of my own publications, I use a personal Excel-document that we can easily extract from the bibliography-page of our university (based on the Web of Science; combined with own input for the most recent papers).

When writing a scientific paper, I generally make use of Reference Manager or Endnote to include references and generate a bibliography.

What are your views on JAAS? Which type of articles do you prefer? Do you miss some content?

Since the start of my scientific career, I have considered JAAS as one of the most important journals in my research field, because it is really dedicated to Atomic Spectrometry and therefore contains a lot of detailed information about the subjects I am really interested in.

Review articles are generally a good and fast way to get launched into a new project, but of course, the original research papers contain more valuable information on what and how to perform the actual work.

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

I really like the combination of research, management and education and I realize that a university lab is the ideal place for that.

What I dislike the most, is that students come and go (typically 4 years PhD), and that it is sometimes hard to ensure continuity in projects and knowledge transfer. And I guess we all know those frustrating days when instruments seem to work against you rather than for you.

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

I really hope that I will still be around in this research field and that by then, the future of my scientific career will be a bit more ‘clear’.

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

Most of my time ‘outside of the lab’, I spend with my husband and kids. With 2 preschoolers at home, there is not much time left for hobbies, but whenever I can make some time, you’ll find me with my guitar, my sewing machine, talking with friends or walking around for some treasure hunting (geocaching).

Thanks a lot for your time, Lieve! Have a look at Lieve’s latest articles published in JAAS!

Today, we interview Raquel Sánchez Romero, a Post-Doctoral Scientist at Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements, JRC, EC.

Raquel in his lab in Geel, Belgium

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

Although I was interested in Math when I was a child, after my participation in a “Chemistry Olympics” during my last high school year I decided to study Chemistry. There I realized how Chemistry could be the key to explain many things that awoke my curiosity.

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

I have to admit that research was not among my first interests until I started working on it. It was during the last year of my degree at the University of Alicante (Spain), when I had my first contact with research. And I discovered my vocation. Under the supervision of Prof. José Luis Todolí, I started to apply ICP-OES for the analysis of organic matrices. This project had a direct application in real life and thus was the main factor to decide to continue and I started my PhD. It was a project in collaboration with the IFP-Energies nouvelles (Lyon, France), under the supervision of Dr. Lienemann. It focused on the investigation of possible solutions to the day-to-day problems in the analysis of petroleum, its derivatives and biofuels by ICP techniques.

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

As project manager, I am currently working on the development, production and certification of reference materials in the area of environmental science. Moreover, I am currently working in the development and validation of methods for the analysis of environmental samples by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

How is a typical day in your lab?

I cannot say I really have a typical day in my job, since I have many different tasks and projects to manage. So depending of the day-to-day priorities, I schedule my work focusing on the method development and therefore the tasks of the lab or on the coordination of my projects. If I have to work in the lab, I usually arrive pretty early. I try to prepare everything to start measuring early. So I am able to analyze the results before going home. In this way I am able to plan the lab work for the next day. However, if I have to spend my day at my desk, I normally come a bit later and I work until late. I am more creative after my coffee around 10 in the morning. So I spend my first hour and a half working on easy tasks.

What common activities are organized in your research group?

There are two types of activities, those linked to the work as CRM development producer and those, outside working hours, orientated towards the integration of all the staff. With regard to the first ones, for instance different meetings are organized from general meetings, such as unit meetings, to the more specific ones, such as laboratory meetings or group meetings. Moreover, different trainings are offered.

Regarding the social activities, the unit organised two special meals during the year and a special day with the families. Also, whenever there is someone’s birthday, we bring cakes to celebrate it. My institution organizes several social events throughout the year such as a summer barbecue, an end-of-the-year party … Also there are different social clubs (bowling, volleyball, cooking …) that you can join if you like.

What app/programs do you typically use?

Besides Microsoft Office tools, I use the software specific to the instruments. Also, I use the program SoftCRM, a special software for evaluation data from reference material certifications. I use End Note for the management of my references. Presently, I am working with the program R to make some statistical analysis.

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

I am subscribed to email alerts of several journals, so I can keep up with all the latest papers. When I am looking for a particular paper, I normally use the Web of Science. Then, I organized my bibliography using End Notes. I order the papers by subject in different End Notes libraries.

What are your views on JAAS? Which type of articles do you prefer? Do you miss some content?

JAAS is one of my reference journals. I started to follow it from the beginning of my career as researcher. As one of the most important journals in my field, it covers almost all the areas related to atomic spectrometry and lists the most recent and important jobs. Not only I have followed the journal as a reader, most of my papers have been published in this journal. What I like the best is that there is no limitation on figures, tables and pages allowing the authors to present all the data necessary to support the main results.

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

I am considering myself a lucky person because I can work on what I like. Of course, the part I enjoy the most is working in the laboratory. I enjoy that not all days are the same. I enjoy new challenges to analyze and try to solve them. Like many people in this field, the part that I dislike more is the administrative paperwork. Moreover, I really like working in an international environment. I have the opportunity to meet people from around the world and learn new cultures… What I dislike is being away from my family.

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

This is a tricky question. I like the fact that my days are not all equal. I like the new challenges, I like asking me why… And, I think that only when you do research you are confronted with this. So I hope to continue working in this field. Moreover, the combination of research and teaching would be perfect. My greatest wish would be to obtain a Professor position and to transmit my enthusiasm for science.

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

The truth is I’m pretty active in my free time. I like sports, so I go to the gym, running, trekking and I occasionally play basketball. Also I use part of my free time to improve and complete my training, for example my language skills. I like going out, travelling, reading, cooking… I am part of the cooking and bowling club of my institution.

Thanks, Raquel! Keep up with the good work on CRMs, we all need them!

Have a look at the latests articles of Raquel in JAAS:

Quantification of nickel, vanadium and manganese in petroleum products and biofuels through inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometryequipped with a high temperature single pass spray chamber

Raquel Sánchez, Carlos Sánchez, José Luis Todolí, Charles-Philippe Lienemann and Jean-Michel Mermet

Today, we interview Ariane Donard, a PhD student who carries out her research at the University of pau and pays de l’adour and at the French Nuclear Energy Agency (CEA), under the supervision of Dr. Christophe Peycheran and Dr. Fabien Pointurier.

Ariane in his lab in Pau, France

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?
I always liked science class as a student and believe that being a scientist would fit my personality well because I think it requires curiosity, patience and pugnacity. There is also no doubt that my father had a great influence on my desire to become a scientist. My father is an analytical and environmental chemist specialized in speciation. He is very passionate about his job and very enthusiastic when he talks about it. I have caught the research bug!

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

After graduating, I worked as an engineer for a year realizing then that I wasn’t completely satisfied with my job. I thought research would fit me better so I started to look for a PhD program. I spent a year in Sweden as a student where I got the chance to work on the coupling of laser ablation and ICP MS and started to appreciate the potential of this technique. So, when I heard Christophe Pecheyran had a PhD position on this subject in collaboration with Fabien Pointurier from the CEA (French nuclear energy agency), I jumped on the opportunity. Another reason that made me choose this PhD program is the availability of great analytical equipment in those laboratories.

Can you explain a bit the purpose of you current research activities?
I work for the French nuclear energy agency. I try to develop methodologies to use LA-ICP-MS for different applications of interest to the agency. I am currently working on a challenging particle analysis dealing with an extremely low quantity of analyte, which produces a very short signal. Another part of my research is to study “laser-material interaction” by evaluating the influence of very high frequency (up to 100 000 Hz) with different wavelengths on ablation. For this, I use a prototype femtoseconde laser being developed in collaboration between my team and NEXEYA, a French company when I work in Pau. I also spend some time of the year in the CEA laboratory, close to Paris where I use a nanosecond laser UV.
How is a typical day in your lab?
When I conduct experiment, I start by turning on the instruments and checking that there is no problem before going to our laser group “kick off of the day” coffee meeting. We are a small group of two postdoc, our chief and me. This morning meeting is a very important moment of day in the lab because we talk about what we will be doing or discuss problems we may have encountered. The rest of the day is typically divided between running experiments and computer work.
What common activities are organized in your research group?
What I really like in our laboratory’s activity is the lunch seminar every other Friday. A person of the lab: a professor, an assistant, a post doc, or a PhD presents one of his research topic for 45 min. It is really interesting because it gives us an insight on all the areas of on-going research in the laboratory. The presentation is followed by a discussion that is always very constructive because people specialized in other fields can give us other perspectives on our own work. After that we all share lunch which is a great opportunity to get to know our coworkers and really help foster a nice atmosphere in the lab.
What are your views on JAAS? Which type of articles do you prefer? Do you miss some content?
JAAS has been one of the reference journals for my bibliography since the beginning of my PhD. I follow actively papers on LA-ICP-MS but also on particle analysis in general. I like the “technical notes” articles that are very useful when you start an experiment and can help you to develop the method.
How do you search for scientific information? How do you manage your bibliography?
At the beginning of the PhD, I did extensive research on laser ablation publication. I mostly use general database like web of knowledge, Scopus. I also check all the reviews in my field and verify that all the journals cited are accessible from the databases I use. I set-up different alerts with key words and also names of famous authors in my field to be up to date on the latest on laser ablation mass spectrometry field.
What app/programs do you typically use?
To write documents, presentation or compiling data I use Microsoft Office pack. I manage my bibliography with Mendeley, it’s really convenient to access to all your files from any computer.
What do you like and dislike the most about your work?
As I said before my experience as an engineer really helps me to see the bright side of the PhD. It’s really nice to have the chance to develop our own subject, to be focused on just one goal. I feel really lucky to work surrounded by experienced persons and to have access to such powerful instruments. I like the fact that we are challenged all the time. Once you find an answer on a subject a new one is always popping up. The part I dislike the most is when the instruments are unstable and you could spend a whole day to get them to work properly.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
In five years, I would hope to be back in France after some postdoc abroad. I would love to work for a few years in a foreign lab. It’s very enriching to discover different methods of work, different cultures. I would like to continue in the research field possibly the public sector but I don’t rule out the industrial sector at this point. Working for example in an analytical laboratory at developing new analytical methods could be a nice job.
What do you enjoy doing when you are not in the lab?
I like my job but I also like my life outside the lab! I have a lot of activities when I’m not at work. I take dance and guitar classes and I’m playing in a band. I think it’s important to take your mind off the work to be even more concentrated during the day. Of course during a PhD, there are very busy periods when you have to put aside your activities for a while and stay focus on your work but I always try to find a balance.

Many thanks for sharing your views with us, Ariane, and be careful with the research bug!

Today we interview Alexander Gundlach-Graham, a graduate student who is finishing his PhD at the Laboratory for Spectrochemistry, in Indiana University, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Gary M. Hieftje

Alexander in his lab in Bloomington, Indiana

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

I’ve always been curious about the natural world and about how things work. I trace my curiosity about the outdoors to hiking and camping trips I took growing up with my family and scouts. I never really made a decision to study chemistry; I took general chemistry my freshman year of college and then just kept taking chemistry classes because I enjoyed them so much. The most influential course I took in college was Instrumental Analysis. In this course, we both used instruments and, as a class, built an instrument to study kinetics reactions through a fast-flow mixing tube.

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

I joined the Hieftje group at Indiana University because I wanted to build scientific instruments. The black-box approach to chemistry has never worked for me: I’m too fascinated by “how” measurements are made. I came to IU to learn about everything that goes into building a scientific instrument, from theory, design, and construction to operation and first results. In this regard, IU (and the Hieftje group) has been a fantastic place to learn about instrument development. Also, Bloomington, Indiana is a wonderful place to live.

What do you like about where you live?

My favorite part of Bloomington is definitely the Farmer’s Market. Abi and I go every Saturday during the summer to stock up on fresh vegetables for the week.

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

My PhD research has been to develop and characterize the first Distance-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (DOFMS). Prof. Chris Enke from the University of New Mexico invented the concept of DOFMS in the late 2000s, and I’ve applied his theory with a real instrument. I think the research we’re doing on DOFMS in the Hieftje lab is beginning to solidify DOFMS as an analytical MS technique. To date, we’ve built two DOFMS instruments and combined DOFMS with glow-discharge and inductively coupled plasma ionization sources. More combinations of DOFMS with alternative ionization sources and applications of DOFMS are certainly on the way!

How is a typical day in your lab?

I don’t really have a “typical day” in the lab. The only real routine I have is that several members of the group and Prof. Hieftje often gather for coffee in the mornings to socialize and talk about our research problems, questions, and ideas. I typically spend the rest of day working mostly independently. Depending on the day, I will be taking measurements; analyzing data; designing, building, or changing components for the DOFMS; or reading and writing.

What common activities are organized in your research group?

Every day we have make freshly-ground French pressed coffee in the morning; for some reason we are quite particular about our coffee. Otherwise, we have two main group events during the year: in the summer we rent a pontoon boat and troll around a local lake for a day, and in December there is a holiday party. We also often have group dinners when visiting scientists prepare to leave the group and have celebration dinners when a group member receives his or her degree.

What apps/programs do you typically use?

I think I use programs typical to analytical chemists. I use Origin to plot data, Endnote to organize my citations, and Microsoft Office programs to make presentations and write manuscripts. I also do a lot of work with LabVIEW to remotely control the instrument and to analyze data. I use SimION for simulating new designs for the DOFMS.

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

I follow journals with an RSS reader. My preferred reader is Google Reader—I only get to use that for 1 more month L. When I know what article I’m looking for, I use Google Scholar to find PDFs of the article, and when I want to search by author, I typically use Web of Science. I use Endnote to keep my bibliography organized. My current system is to read and annotate articles using GoodNotes on my iPad, and then save the PDF to my EndNote library, so that the article, my notes, and the citation are all together.

What are your views on JAAS? Which type of articles do you prefer? Do you miss some content?

JAAS is one of the journals that I always look through. I enjoy the research and perspective articles especially. As an author, I like the flexibility of JAAS because there are no figure and page limits. When journals are too strict about figure limits, I think that important pieces of the story can get buried in supplementary material sections.

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

My favorite part of research is problem solving. I also have a lot of freedom to develop new ideas. At IU, we have a student machine shop that I can use to make my own parts for the instrument: sometimes I can design, construct, install, and test a new component for the DOFMS in a day or two. This flexibility really allows us to be creative. In my graduate career, I’ve also been lucky to get to travel around the world to meet with other scientists and share my own results. Just like everyone else, I don’t like it when my instrument stops working. A day or two spent in search of ions because of a missed electrical connection can be very frustrating.

What have you taught? What have your teaching experiences been like? What have you learned from teaching?

At IU, I’ve taught general chemistry and bio-analytical chemistry labs, as well as several semesters of our graduate-level electronics course. I’ve very much enjoyed teaching at IU; I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that a teacher needs to both deliver material clearly and be patient.

What do you expect to be doing in five years’ time?

In fives years, I hope to be an assistant professor at a liberal arts college in the United States. I’d like my career to balance teaching and research, with perhaps more emphasis on teaching.

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

I like to spend time with my wife Abi, go on walks around town, go to the gym, and cook. My favorite hobby is bread baking: recently I’ve been experimenting with wild-yeast sourdough breads.

Many thanks for sharing your views with us, Alex, and all the best for your post-doc position!

We continue this section by interviewing Morgana B. Dessuy, a very young, just appointed Professor at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil. Morgana works at the Laboratory of Trace Analysis, coordinated by Prof. Dr. María G.R. Vale.

Morgana Dessuy in her lab in Porto Alegre

Who or what inspired you to become a scientist?

At school I was always interested in Sciences. During high school, I decided to study Chemistry, after having read some articles about the role of a chemist in society.

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

During my graduation, at Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, I was given the chance to work with different analytical techniques. At the end of my degree I decided to work with Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (AAS), which led me to do my TCC, which is a first supervised research work to conclude the graduation course, at the Laboratory of Trace Analysis at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), coordinated by Prof. Maria Goreti R. Vale. This TCC work increased my interest in this technique even more; consequently I decided to take my Master and Doctorate in this area. Considering the fact that the Laboratory of Trace Analysis offers an adequate infrastructure for the development of my research, and that UFRGS is one of the best universities of Brazil, I chose to follow my studies there under the supervision and orientation Prof. Maria Goreti. During my PhD work I also had the opportunity to spend one year at the Institute of Analytical Chemistry of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic in Prague under the supervision of Dr. Jiři Dědina in the frame of a sandwich program. This gave me the opportunity to work with other techniques, to know new people and a different culture, which contributed very much to increase my horizon, scientifically and personally.

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

My current research is based on the application of the AAS technique for the development of analytical methods. I am currently working on the development of analytical methods for the quantification of non-metals using High-resolution Continuum Source Graphite Furnace Molecular Absorption Spectrometry (HR-CS GF MAS). Besides this project, I have been developing another study related to the leaching of metals and metalloids from different food containers, particularly from pewter cups produced in Brazil.

How is a typical day in your lab?

I am not able to stay for a long time in the laboratory to make measurements, due to my recent activities as a Professor. Having to divide my time among giving classes, research and doing the paperwork, what I usually do is to plan the experiments and discuss the results with the students in the lab early in the morning and at the end of the afternoon when I finish my classes.

What common activities are organized in your research group?

Eventually we gather to make a barbecue or a happy hour to celebrate birthdays, presentation of final papers or the approval of a scientific project.

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

To make the bibliographic review I make use of the Web of Science. In addition, I usually access the websites of the main Journals in the field, to follow what is being published, and I save in folders, ordered by subject, those articles that I find relevant.

What are your views on JAAS? Which type of articles do you prefer? Do you miss some content?

JAAS is one of the most important Journals in the field of Atomic Spectrometry, being a reference for me since the beginning of my graduation. Nowadays, I wish there were more articles about sample preparation, as well as method development and applications involving AAS techniques, mainly using high-resolution continuum source AAS and high resolution continuum source molecular absorption spectrometry.

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

I really like my work and I feel honored for being able to provide classes and carry out research activities simultaneously. I am happy with what I do. I do not really like the administrative paperwork, which is automatically inserted in my duties. Having to administrate money for my research and face bureaucracy and delay for the purchase of material/reagents is really annoying.

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

I have recently reached a position, which I have aimed for a long time: the one of being a Professor at UFRGS. In five years time I hope to have acquired the potential to widen the structure of the Laboratory of Trace Analysis and to be satisfied with the research developed during this time. Besides that, I hope to contribute to the formation of graduate and post-graduate students.

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

I really like going out with my friends or going to a park on the weekends. I also like reading a lot of books of general literature.

Thanks for sharing your views with us, Morgana, and congratulations on your recent position!

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!