Young Analytical Scientists

JAAS is excited to introduce Thibaut Van Acker as one of our Young Analytical Scientists.

Thibaut Van Acker obtained his Master of Science degree in Bioscience Engineering: Environmental Technology at Ghent University (Belgium) in 2015. During the last year of his Master of Science degree, he carried out his Master thesis in the Atomic & Mass Spectrometry (A&MS) research unit under the supervision of Dr. Eduardo Bolea-Fernandez and Prof. Dr. Frank Vanhaecke; it was during this time that he developed his interest in Analytical Chemistry. As a result, he started his PhD in the A&MS research unit on the topic “Method development for high-resolution elemental bio-imaging via laser ablation-ICP-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS)”. After obtaining his PhD degree in Chemistry in 2019, he continued his journey as postdoctoral researcher further exploring the capabilities of LA-ICP-MS for elemental bio-imaging applications in interdisciplinary contexts. Dr Thibaut is (co-)author of 16 journal papers.

Read Dr Thibaut’s paper Analytical figures of merit of a low-dispersion aerosol transport system for high-throughput LA-ICP-MS analysis.

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2021,36, 1201-1209, DOI: 10.1039/D1JA00110H

Young Analytical Scientists

JAAS is excited to introduce Xioming Jiang as one of our Young Analytical Scientists.

Xiaoming Jiang is an associate professor of analytical chemistry at Sichuan University, China. He received his BS degree in communication engineering in 2006, MS degree in signal and information processing in 2009 (Advisor Prof. Hua Huang) and PhD degree in analytical chemistry in 2012 (Advisor Prof. Xiandeng Hou), all from Sichuan University. In 2012, he joined the faculty of Chemistry at Sichuan University. He has authored and co-authored over 50 publications in peer reviewed journals. His research interest mainly lies in analytical atomic spectrometry-related method and instrumentation development.

Read Professor Jiang’s paper Cross double point discharge as enhanced excitation source for highly sensitive determination of arsenic, mercury and lead by optical emission spectrometry.

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2021,36, 1193-1200, DOI: 10.1039/D1JA00039J

Young Analytical Scientists

JAAS is excited to announce Miss M Carmen García-Poyo as one of our Young Analytical Scientists.

M. Carmen García-Poyo was born in Spain in 1988. She obtained her MSc degree on Environmental and Sustainable Chemistry at the University of Alicante (Spain) in 2012. Throughout that time, she conducted research into matrix effects in atomic spectrometry (FAAS, ICP-OES and ICP-MS) under the supervision of Dr Guillermo Grindlay. She later worked on the laboratory of a reproduction clinic for 4 years.

Since 2018, Miss García-Poyo has been carrying out her PhD under cotutelle between the Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour (France) and the Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain), supervised by Dr. Christophe Pecheyran and Dr. Martin Resano, in the framework of a European project (POCTEFA EFA176/16/DBS). The aim of her PhD is to further investigate the evolution of Wilson disease (a genetic disorder affecting copper metabolism) using microsamples. To achieve this, she is working in the determination of elemental and isotopic Cu using ICP-MS, MC-ICP-MS and HR-CS-GFAAS and various sampling strategies, including laser ablation, electrothermal vaporization (ETV) and direct microinjection.

Read Miss García-Poyo’s paper, Laser ablation of microdroplets for copper isotopic analysis via MC-ICP-MS. Analysis of serum microsamples for the diagnosis and follow-up treatment of Wilson’s disease

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2021,36, 968-980, DOI: 10.1039/D0JA00494D

Young Analytical Scientists

JAAS is excited to announce Simone Braeuer as one of our Young Analytical Scientists.

Simone Braeuer obtained her PhD in 2018 from the University of Graz (Austria) in the research group of Professor Walter Goessler. The following year, she started a PostDoc fellowship at Ghent University (Belgium) in the Atomic & Mass Spectrometry research group of Professor Frank Vanhaecke.

Her work at the University of Graz focused on the development and application of ICPMS and HPLC-ICPMS methods for the determination of trace element species in environmental context. During her PhD, her researched focussed mainly on arsenic in mushrooms. Since mushrooms also contain other elements, sometimes in surprising concentrations and species, she soon became interested in these as well. Her fascination with ICPMS and mushrooms grew so big that she is still investigating mushrooms in her current PostDoc project, now via multi-collector ICPMS and laser ablation ICPMS.

Dr Braeuer considers multidisciplinary and international collaborations both fascinating and essential for environmental research. She also believes that high-quality, state-of-the-art analytical chemistry is of key importance – for environmental studies as well as in the rest of life.

Read Dr Braeuer’s paper, Determination of the naturally occurring vanadium-complex amavadin in Amanita muscaria with HPLC-ICPMS.

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2021,36, 954-967, DOI: 10.1039/D0JA00518E

Young Analytical Scientists

JAAS is excited to introduce Jefferson Santos de Gois as one of our Young Analytical Scientists.

Jefferson Santos de Gois currently lives in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and works at Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), where he holds a permanent position as a professor. He obtained his doctorate in Chemistry (2016) from the Ghent University (Belgium) and Federal University of Santa Catarina, UFSC (Brazil) performing research in atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), high-resolution continuum source atomic absorption spectrometry (HR-CS AAS), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and isotopic analysis via multi-collector ICP-MS. His thesis focused on the development of methods for halogen determination and isotopic analysis, as well as the application of the methods in environmental studies.

After receiving his PhD, he accepted a position at UERJ, where he expanded his research interests to the determination of organic compounds (by chromatographic techniques) and chemometrics (design of experiments, pattern recognition, and multivariate calibration). He currently coordinates the research group “Espectrometria atômica, Molecular e Métodos de Separação”, advising doctorate and master and undergraduate students from the Graduate Program in Chemical Engineering at UERJ.

His current research projects involve the application of nanomaterials for method development and removal of pollutants from the environment, the development of analytical methods for trace-element and organic compounds determination, sample preparation methods, the development of chemometric methods for multivariate calibration and classification, as well as the design of experiments.

Read Professor Santos de Gois’ paper, Optimized preconcentration method using magnetic dispersive solid-phase microextraction with GO–γFe2O3 nanoparticles for the determination of Se in fish samples by FIA-HG-AAS

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2021, 36, 900-908, DOI: 10.1039/D1JA00091H

Young Analytical Scientists

JAAS is excited to announce Magdalena Matczuk as one of our Young Analytical Scientists.

Magdalena Matczuk was born in Wlodawa (Poland) in 1986 and received her MSc in Chemical Technology from Warsaw University of Technology, Poland (2010). Her current occupation is an Assistant Professor at Chair of Analytical Chemistry (Warsaw University of Technology). She holds a PhD of Chemical Sciences in Biotechnology (2015). In 2016 she was awarded for the best PhD. thesis in the field of mass spectrometry by Committee of Analytical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences. In 2019 she was granted the European Rising Star Award for Plasma Spectrochemistry.
She has co-authored about 30 scientific papers in the field of separation techniques, mass spectrometry and their hyphenations. Her primary research interests concern the application of the abovementioned analytical techniques to investigate the anticancer drugs’ and tumor-targeted nanomaterials’ transportation under physiological conditions.

Read Dr Matczuk’s paper, New solvents for metal extraction – NADES. Prediction and optimization of efficient extraction of selected metals by ICP-MS/MS.

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2021, Advance Article, DOI:10.1039/D0JA00492H

Young Analytical Scientists

JAAS is excited to introduce Milica Velimirovic as one of our Young Analytical Scientists.

Milica Velimirovic obtained a PhD degree in Applied biological science in 2013 from the University of Antwerp. Between 2013 and 2018 she held a post-doctoral position at University of Vienna (Austria) where her work focused on the development of field flow fractionation hyphenated to ICP-MS to support the implementation of the EC recommendation on nanomaterials. Since 2019, she is a senior postdoctoral fellow (FWO) at the Ghent University, “Atomic & Mass Spectrometry – A&MS” research group (Belgium). Her main research interests concern the development of new mass spectrometry analytical methods to access and predict the health and environmental risks of nanomaterials.

Read Dr Velimirovic’s review Mass spectrometry as a powerful analytical tool for the characterization of indoor airborne microplastics and nanoplastics.

Biographies of the other authors that contributed to this review can be found below.

Kristof Tirez

Kristof Tirez obtained his MSc degree in Chemistry (1994), MSc in Environmental Sanitation (1995) and PhD in Analytical Chemistry (2013) at Ghent University. Since 1997, Kristof works as a researcher and project leader in the inorganic analytical department of Vito. His main experience and research interests are situated in the determination, fractionation and speciation of elements in a variety of matrices. He acts as a science – policy bridge person and analytical expert for different Flemish public agencies dealing with environmental regulatory monitoring.

Sandra Verstraelen

Biomolecular expert, she studied biomedical sciences at the University of Antwerp and obtained her PhD in 2010 from the University of Ghent. She is air-liquid interface project leader coordinating strategic and contract research in this field, expert in vitro assay development and validation using human cell models and molecular technologies, safety testing of chemicals/nanomaterials.

Sylvie Remy

Molecular epidemiologist, she obtained her PhD degree in biomedical sciences at the University of Antwerp in 2015. She works as a researcher at VITO assessing the health impact of environmental exposures.

Evelien Frijns

Aerosol expert, she received her Master degree in Physical Geography in 2002 from the University of Amsterdam. From 2002 till 2007 she worked as environmental consultant specialized in soil contamination and remediation. Since 2007 she is an aerosol research scientist at VITO and developed expertise in the field of (ufp/nano)aerosol exposure assessment. The current research activities address questions in the area of exposure assessment to airborne ultrafine and nanoparticles in urban, indoor and occupational settings and optimizing methods for generation and characterization of (nano)particles, vapors and gasses for air-liquid interface studies.

Gudrun Koppen

Gudrun Koppen is an Engineer in Chemistry and Agricultural Sciences (University of Ghent, Belgium, 1992). She has completed a post-university degree in Environmental Sanitation (partly in Bochum-Germany, 1993). She worked one year as researcher on aerosols at the Institute of Nuclear Research of the University of Ghent (1994).  In 1999, she completed a PhD in Applied Biological Sciences at the Free University of Brussels (Belgium). Since 1999 she works at VITO (Belgium), in the unit Health. She has more than 20 year experience in molecular epidemiology, and biomarker development in the areas of genotoxicity, inflammation and oxidative stress.

Anna Rotander

With a PhD from Örebro University in 2011 focused on halogenated substances in Arctic marine mammals, and a 2-year postdoc at the University of Queensland, Australia, studying occupational exposure to highly fluorinated chemicals, Anna has a broad background in the field of mass spectrometry and environmental contaminants. Since 2016 she has dedicated her research to microplastics and carried out several projects aimed at increasing the knowledge of their occurrence, sources, and environmental distribution.

Eduardo Bolea-Fernandez

Eduardo Bolea Fernández carried out PhD research at Ghent University, Belgium, and obtained his PhD degree in 2017. His PhD research focused on method development for ultra-trace elemental and isotopic analysis using tandem ICP-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS), a topic carried out in the “Atomic & Mass Spectrometry – A&MS“ research unit. In 2017, he got a postdoctoral research grant (BOF-UGent) focusing on high-precision isotopic analysis of mercury using multi-collector ICP-mass spectrometry for unravelling its biogeochemical cycle. In 2019, he started a new postdoctoral research grant (FWO) based on the development of new analytical methods and their application to metallomics and nanotechnology.

Frank Vanhaecke

Frank Vanhaecke is Senior Full Professor at the Department of Analytical Chemistry of Ghent University (Belgium), where he leads the “Atomic & Mass Spectrometry–A&MS“ research group.  His  research  group focuses on the determination, speciation and isotopic analysis of (trace) elements using ICP-mass  spectrometry  (ICP-MS). The A&MS group studies fundamentally-oriented aspects of the technique and develops methods for solving challenging scientific problems in an interdisciplinary context. Frank is (co)author of ~350 journal papers. He was the chairman of the editorial board of JAAS from June 2012–June 2016 and is now member of its International Advisory Board.

Young Analytical Scientists

JAAS is excited to announce David Clases as one of our Young Analytical Scientists.

David Clases was born in Paderborn (Germany) in 1989 and developed a passion for the natural sciences in his childhood which stimulated his career of scientific enquiry. After graduating from secondary school in the small town of Neuenheerse in 2009, he commenced his study of Chemistry at the University of Münster (Germany), where he obtained a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in 2012 and 2014. Intrigued by Analytical Chemistry as an interdisciplinary science operating at the interface of various fields including medicine, nanotechnology, life- and environmental sciences, he began his PhD studies at the University of Münster under the supervision of Prof. Uwe Karst, and was supported by the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI). As part of a committed and dynamic group, he attained expertise in the application of hyphenated technologies based on inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and high-resolution molecular MS. During his studies he was supported by the German Academic Exchange Service to visit the working group of Prof. Philip Doble at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia, and returned upon the completion of his PhD program in 2017. At UTS, he became a postdoctoral fellow of the German Research Foundation and worked as part of an interdisciplinary team in a vibrant research environment. He has developed an independent research program featuring novel approaches and methods for the characterisation of elemental and proteomic bioindicators and is interested in the analysis of trace elements and emerging nanomaterials in biological and environmental systems. He is a core member of the Atomic Medicine Initiative and, since 2020, employed as a Lecturer of Analytical Chemistry.

Read Dr Clases’s paper, Determination of gadolinium MRI contrast agents in fresh and oceanic waters of Australia employing micro-solid phase extraction, HILIC-ICP-MS and bandpass mass filtering.

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2021, Advance Article