Archive for the ‘Board News’ Category

New JAAS Advisory Board Members

JAAS is delighted to welcome five new members, C. Derrick Quarles Jr., Ewa Bulska, Dmitriy Malinovsky, Jacob Shelly and Alexander Gundlach-Graham to its Advisory Board


C. Derrick Quarles Jr. is a Senior Scientist working for Elemental Scientific, Inc. in the areas of automation for ICP and ICPMS, elemental speciation (LC-ICPMS and LC-ICP), and laser ablation (LA-ICPMS). His past experience also involved extensive work in the area of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS). He received his PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Clemson University under the supervision of Dr Ken Marcus and did a post-doc at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developing methods for the determination of metals in biological matrices. He was named one of the 2014 Young Analytical Scientists by the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectroscopy, and received the 2018 Young Alumni Award from the college of science and mathematics at Augusta University where he also received his bachelor’s degree.

Ewa Bulska is the Director of the Biological and Chemical Research Center at the University of Warsaw, Poland. She obtained her PhD at the University of Warsaw and has held a variety of international positions including at the University of Sao Paulo, Brasil, Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany and Laboratory of Bioinorganic Chemistry, France. Ewa has over 200 peer reviewed publications, with research interests in mechanisms of atomization in atomic spectrometry, analytical applications of atomic and mass spectrometry, analytical application of synchrotron radiation, speciation of biologically relevant elements, the study of selenium metabolism in living organisms, physico-chemical research of historic objects, the use of solid sorbents for concentration and speciation studies and laser microsampling in the study of solids

Dmitriy Malinovsky is a Science Leader in isotope ratio analysis at LGC Group, UK. He has made important contributions to the analysis and interpretation of the isotope data obtained by MC-ICPMS, particularly in the fields of analytical chemistry and biogeochemistry. Dmitriy received his PhD in the subject area of applied geology at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, and has over 40 peer reviewed publications.

Jacob (Jake) Shelley is an Alan Paul Schulz Career Development Professor of Chemistry at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He completed his Ph.D. at Indiana University under Gary Hieftje where he studied novel plasma ionization sources for molecular mass spectrometry. Jake’s research interests lie in the development of new hardware and software tools for mass spectrometry, which enable rapid, sensitive detection and identification of analytes in complex matrices. In addition, his research group uses high-energy plasma-generated species to perform unique gas-phase synthesis. These research areas converge in studying chemical origins-of-life through the Rensselaer Astrobiology Research and Education (RARE) Center, where he is the Associate Director. Jake’s recognitions include a Humboldt Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Bunsen-Kirchoff Award (2017), The Analytical Scientist’s Top 40 Under 40 Power List, Spectroscopy’s 2020 Emerging Leader in Atomic Spectroscopy Award, 2021 EAS Young Investigator Award and 2021 JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship Award.

Alexander Gundlach-Graham is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Iowa State University (ISU).  Research in the Gundlach-Graham group focuses on the development and application of single particle inductively coupled plasma time-of-flight mass spectrometry (spICP-TOFMS), as well as the investigation of novel plasma-source MS designs. In his career, Alex’s research has focused on atomic mass spectrometry, with significant contributions to the development of distance-of-flight mass spectrometry and quantitative elemental imaging by laser ablation ICP-TOFMS, in addition to spICP-TOFMS analysis. Alex won the 2022 JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship Award.

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Heidi Goenaga-Infante wins European Award for Plasma Spectrochemistry

Congratulations to JAAS Chair Heidi Goenaga-Infante on winning the European Award for Plasma Spectrochemistry!


The European Award for Plasma Spectrochemistry, which promotes analytical plasma spectrochemical developments and applications in Europe, is awarded for a single outstanding piece of work or for continued important contributions in the field.

The award, sponsored by Agilent Technologies, was presented to Heidi Goenaga-Infante at the recent European Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry in recognition of her substantial contributions to novel fractionation analysis techniques in the areas of elemental speciation, metallomics and nanomaterials characterization

Chief scientist at the National Measurement Laboratory (NML), Heidi is also a principal scientist and team leader of the Inorganic Analysis team with research focussed on trace element and speciation analysis, metallomics research, the characterisation of nanomaterials, high accuracy isotope ratio analysis, quantitative elemental bio-imaging and the characterisation of ‘speciated’ reference materials and standards.

Read Heidi’s latest article in JAAS here: A systematic study of high resolution multielemental quantitative bioimaging of animal tissue using LA-ICP-TOFMS J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2023, Advance Article

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Gerado Gamez’s Editor’s Choice Collection

Dr Gamez is a recently appointed member of the JAAS Editorial Board. He has highlighted some impactful work in this Editor’s Choice.

Read Dr Gamez’s Editor’s Choice selection via the links below – all articles are free to access for the next 4 weeks!


Single-particle ICP-MS with online microdroplet calibration: toward matrix independent nanoparticle sizing.
Hendriks et al. J. Anal. Atom. Spectrom., 2019, 34, 716-728. DOI: 10.1039/c8ja00397a.

This excellent work is particularly interesting because it addresses matrix effects in SP ICP MS, which represents one of the technique’s main drawbacks. The use of the microdroplet generator is a particularly clever approach. SP ICP MS is one of the areas in atomic spectrometry that is experiencing explosive growth. I also highly recommend reading the critical review of SP ICP MS by Mozhayeva and Engelhard1 to novices and experts alike.

Detection of microplastics using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) operated in single-event mode.
Bolea-Fernandez et al. J. Anal. Atom. Spectrom., 2020, 35, 455-460. DOI: 10.1039/C9JA00379G.

The authors of this outstanding article extend the detection concept of SP ICP MS to polystyrene microspheres. As such, they provide the first demonstration showing this approach has the potential to be developed toward analysis of microplastics, which have been the focus of increased concern because of their impact in the environment.

Glow discharge optical emission spectrometry for quantitative depth profiling of CIGS thin-films.
Kodalle et al. J. Anal. Atom. Spectrom., 2019, 34, 1233-1241. DOI: 10.1039/C9JA00075E.

This work is a wonderful example of a systematic approach towards method development for quantitative depth profiling in GDOES, as well as its proper validation through complementary techniques, which can sometimes be challenging for multilayer thin films. The section correlating the CIGS thin-film energy bandgap profile to the one obtained from the ratio of Ga and In molar fractions by GDOES is another great aspect that sets this article apart.

Time-resolved imaging of atoms and molecules in laser-produced uranium plasmas.
Kautz et al. J. Anal. Atom. Spectrom., 2019, 34, 2236-2243. DOI: 10.1039/C9JA00228F.

In this great work, the authors measure the spatio-temporal variation of different species in laser-induced plasmas of uranium samples, which allowed them to obtain valuable insights into the evolution of the plasma chemistry. I am a big fan of plasma fundamental studies.

1. D. Mozhayeva and C. Engelhard. A critical review of single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry – A step towards an ideal method for nanomaterial characterization. J Anal At Spectrom, 2020, 35, 1740-1783. DOI: 10.1039/C9JA00206E

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Professor José-Luis Todolí: New JAAS Editorial Board Member

JAAS is pleased to welcome Professor José-Luis Todolí to its Editorial Board!


José-Luis Todolí is a full Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Alicante in Spain, head of the Applied Chemical Analysis research group and deputy vice chancellor for Knowledge Transfer.

In 1991 he graduated in chemistry and in 1994 obtained his PhD degree at the University of Alicante. The same year, he was appointed as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition and Food Science at the same institution. In 1997, he was awarded with a European Marie Curie Grant and he performed one-year postdoctoral studies at the Université Claude Bernard in Lyon under the supervision of Professor Jean-Michel Mermet. In 2000 he obtained a permanent position as Associate Professor at the University of Alicante and, finally, in march of 2012 he gained the full professor position that he has occupied since then.

The goals of his research have been the development of ICP liquid sample introduction systems; the study of mechanisms of non-spectral interferences in ICP-based techniques and their further correction; the development of calibration strategies; the elemental analysis of petroleum products and biofuels, environmental, clinical and food samples. More recently he has been involved in projects related with laser ablation, development of new chromatographic methodologies and liquid-liquid extraction.

He has co-authored around 120 articles, several books and book chapters together with three patents. With around 300 contributions to international conferences, some of them awarded, he has given close to 40 invited lectures. More recently, in 2018, he was awarded by the Spanish Society of Researchers (dependent on the Spanish Research Council) for his contributions to the field of atomic spectrometry. He has collaborated with companies within the frame of more than 50 private contracts.

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Dr Gerardo Gamez: New JAAS Editorial Board Member

JAAS is pleased to welcome Dr Gerardo Gamez to its Editorial Board!


Dr Gamez obtained his B.Sc. at the University of Texas at El Paso, USA, where he performed research with Prof. Dr. Gardea-Torresdey in the area of environmental chemistry pertaining to the use of plant tissues to filter heavy metal contamination from aqueous media. He also obtained his M.Sc. in the Gardea-Torresdey group developing methods to recover noble metals from aqueous media and new processes to produce noble metal nanoparticles. He obtained his PhD in Analytical Chemistry at Indiana University-Bloomington, USA, with Prof. Dr. Hieftje, where he employed laser and optical emission diagnostic techniques in fundamental studies of plasmas used in analytical spectrochemistry. He also received the first Richard Payling Award for his work on the development of GDOES elemental mapping, co-developed a plasma based ambient mass spectrometry (AMS) source, and served as the chair for the Indiana Section of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy.

His postdoctoral work at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, with Prof. Dr. Zenobi, involved developing AMS methods and exploring the possibilities of near-field laser ablation techniques. He then worked as a Scientist in the Laboratory for Mechanics of Materials and Nanostructures at EMPA Thun, Switzerland, where he developed methods and instrumentation in glow discharge spectroscopy, and served as coordinator and manager for GLADNET, an EC FP6 program research-training network. In 2013, he joined the faculty at Texas Tech University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry where his research focuses on developing instrumentation and methods for multi-dimensional analysis, based on plasma OES and AMS, as well as plasma fundamental studies.

He was awarded the inaugural Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry Emerging Investigator Lectureship in 2016, and received the 2020 Young Plasma Scientist Award at the Winter Conference for Plasma Spectrochemistry. He has coauthored more than 70 peer-reviewed publications.

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New JAAS Editorial Chair: A few words with Heidi Goenaga-Infante

The new Chair of JAAS has been announced as Heidi Goeanga-Infante, LGC, London, UK. We recently caught up with Heidi to find out a bit more about her.

What are you most looking forward to in your new role as chair?
I am delighted and feel honoured to be the new chair of JAAS. I am definitely looking forward to working more closely with a fantastic team of RSC editors and colleagues from the JAAS Editorial and Advisory boards.

What are you most looking forward to in your new role as Chair? What are your aims?
Taking up the role of JAAS Chair is a great opportunity to ensure that the journal further builds on its long-standing tradition of publishing innovative research at the forefront of atomic spectrometry. I will have big shoes to fill as the previous Chairs have done a fantastic job but I am willing to learn from their experience and do my very best to take the journal to exciting new areas.

What direction do you see this research field moving in and what do you imagine will be the next big breakthrough?
I envisage that key developments will be driven by needs in life sciences applications with regards to diagnostics and advanced therapeutics. The establishment of multidisciplinary platforms for multiple biomarker quantification and imaging of tissue down to single cells will be invaluable in supporting medical research into the diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases like cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and Wilson’s disease. Also multi-modal approaches developed so far for nanomaterials will be extended to anisotropic materials in more challenging environments and towards applications in nanomedicine.

How do we encourage the next generation of analytical chemists?
I would encourage them to get themselves out there, be proactive in pursuing their dream career, seize new opportunities and last but not least enjoy the journey. Passion and dedication are keys to success.

Whose work do you think is really exciting at the moment?
To mention a group or a few groups in particular will be unfair as I am amazed by the breadth of high quality work in our community. Having said that, I find the advances made in improving sample introduction and instrument calibration for challenging applications of single particle and single cell multi-tag analyses very exciting. This, of course, is nowadays supported by instrumentation developments towards higher sample transport efficiencies, better spatial resolution and speed and, micro-second, quasi-simultaneous multi-element and multi-isotope detection. Also, the increasing use of atomic spectrometry in parallel with techniques such as molecular mass spectrometry and microscopy in the areas of imaging, nanomaterial characterisation and speciation analysis keeps my full attention.

Once again, we’d like to warmly welcome Heidi. We’re looking forward to her term as Chair of the JAAS Editorial Board.

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JAAS Chair Heidi Goenaga-Infante wins Lester W. Strock Award

JAAS would like to congratulate our new Chair, Heidi Goenaga-Infante, on being awarded the 2020 Lester W. Strock Award.

The Lester W. Strock Award is given by the New England Section of the Society of Applied Spectroscopy in recognition of a selected publication of substantive research in/or application of analytical atomic spectrochemistry in the fields of earth science, life sciences, or stellar and cosmic sciences.

Heidi will recieve the award at the 2020 SciX conference, and will be giving a plenary talk on the Role of Reference Methods and Reference Materials to Support Use of Regulated Nanomaterials in the Manufacturing Industry, on Tuesday Oct 13th, 9:45am (Eastern Daylight Time).

Congratulations Heidi!

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Introducing our newest JAAS Advisory Board members

 

 

JAAS is delighted to announce the newest additions to our Advisory Board: Vincent Motto-Ros (Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, France), Matthieu Baudelet (University of Central Florida, USA) and Marta Costas-Rodríguez (Ghent University, Belgium).

 

Vincent Motto-Ros graduated with a Physics degree in December 2005 from the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (Lyon, France). After two postdoctoral positions at the Canadian Space Agency (Montréal, Quebec) and in the Liphy Laboratory (Grenoble, France), he obtained an Associate Professor position at the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 in 2008. He has since worked on the development of the LIBS technique in the Light and Matter Institute (ILM). He has excellent international visibility for his expertise in LIBS instrumental development, quantification, experimental training, and elemental imaging of biological tissues. He is the author of more than 60 papers in reviewed journals, 2 patents, about 50 presentations at national and international conferences, and 15 invited talks/lectures at international conferences.

Matthieu Baudelet graduated with a B.S in Physics from the University of Lille (France), in 2003. In 2005, he graduated with a M.S. in “Laser and Spectroscopy” in the University of Lyon (France) and continued to complete his Ph.D. in the ‘Laboratoire de Spectrométrie Ionique et Moléculaire’ (Lasim, Lyon) working on “Laser-induced plasma and spectroscopic analysis.” He continued his research on laser spectroscopy and sensing as a Senior Research Scientist for the Townes Laser Institute at the University of Central Florida. Now Assistant Professor of Chemistry in the National Center for Forensic Science, Dr. Baudelet’s research focuses on the application of laser-based spectroscopy for forensic analysis: atomic spectroscopy with laser ablation techniques (LIBS and LA-ICP-MS) as well as molecular with Raman spectroscopy. A large part of this research focuses also on the quantification of interferences in spectroscopic signals.

Marta Costas-Rodríguez obtained her PhD in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Vigo (Spain) in 2011, where she was awarded with the Extraordinary Doctorate Award (Sciences scope). Her work focused on the development of analytical methods for elemental analysis by spectrometric techniques. Since 2012, she is a postdoctoral researcher (currently with a postdoctoral fellowship from the Flemish Research Foundation FWO – Flanders) in the ‘Atomic & Mass Spectrometry – A&MS’ research group of Prof. Frank Vanhaecke at Ghent University (Belgium). Her research at UGent is mainly dealing with high-precision isotopic analysis in biomedicine. She has supervised 3 Master and 2 PhD students and is currently guiding another 2 PhD students in this field. She is (co)author of 50 peer-reviewed international papers and 4 book chapters and has given some 50 presentations on conferences. Her current research interests are elemental and isotopic analysis by single- and multi-collector ICP-MS and bioimaging with LA-ICP-MS. Additionally, she is the current JAAS Emerging Investigator Lectureship winner.

JAAS is guided by an international Editorial Board and Advisory Board – more information on our board members can be found on our website. We welcome the knowledge and expertise Vincent, Matthieu and Marta will bring to the journal and we very much look forward to working with them. Welcome to the JAAS team!

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In memory of Gary Horlick

Professor Gary Horlick

We are sad to report that Professor Emeritus Gary Horlick of the University of Alberta passed away on Thursday, November 1. For over 50 years, Gary Horlick was a leader in the field of atomic spectrometry, contributing to this field with many elegant experiments and a sharp interpretive insight. He will be remembered as a great teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend. – Steve Ray

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In memory of Bernhard Welz

Bernhard Welz (photo by Jorg Feldmann)

I am very saddened to report that last Saturday (June 2), Dr. Bernhard Welz passed away, after severe complications, as consequence of a car accident. Bernhard was cremated last Sunday in Florianópolis (Brazil), the city in which he chose to live for the last 20 years.

Born in Augsburg (Germany), Bernhard was without any doubt one of the driving figures in the development of atomic absorption. As a young doctor, he started doing research in what was then a very new field, when he joined Perkin Elmer in 1967. After more than 30 years working for such company, Bernhard, instead of opting for a peaceful retirement, decided to adventure overseas and became Visiting Professor at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, in Florianópolis. And so Bernhard became Bernardo, and started a new life, meeting his wife and co-worker, Maria. His presence and example invigorated atomic spectrometry in Brazil, to the point that it is one of the leading countries in the field now.

Bernhard was tireless and very active until the very end, traveling to conferences all over the world, and presenting his unique work. It is hard to resume his contribution to the field or overestimate his enormous impact. His work for the last 20 years focused on the development of high-resolution continuum source AAS/MAS, but that is only one of his many achievements. His “Bible” on Atomic Absorption Spectrometry, wrote together with M. Sperling in the last edition, still is the reference book in the field. And let’s not forget that he started organizing several successful conferences, such as the Rio Symposium on Atomic Spectrometry, or the German CANAS.

I remember reading his papers (his series on the use of palladium and magnesium nitrate as a universal modifier is certainly noteworthy) as a young Ph.D. student, meeting him as a young post-doc, and becoming his colleague and friend later on, as a not so young scientist. Bernhard was a true giant, and it was a privilege to share time with him, both personally and scientifically. He will be sorely missed, but his legacy certainly remains. A life well-lived, Bernardo. Rest in peace and many thanks!

Martín Resano
Chair of the JAAS Editorial Board

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