The µTAS 2017 Conference was held during 22 – 26th October in Savannah, Georgia, USA. Maria Southall, Deputy Editor of Lab on a Chip, attended this conference and announced the prestigious Lab on a Chip awards which include the Pioneers of Miniaturization Lectureship (in partnership with Dolomite Microfluidics), the Widmer Young Researcher Poster Prize, the Art in Science competition (in partnership with NIST) and the µTAS video competition (in partnership with Dolomite Microfluidics). The competition was tough, but we are pleased to announce this year’s Prize Winners below.
“Pioneers of Miniaturization” Lectureship
Professor Aaron Wheeler (University of Toronto) was announced as the winner of the 12th “Pioneers of Miniaturization” Lectureship, sponsored by Dolomite and Lab on a Chip. The “Pioneers of Miniaturization” Lectureship rewards early to mid-career scientists who have made extraordinary or outstanding contributions to the understanding or development of miniaturised systems. Professor Aaron Wheeler received a certificate and a monetary award, and delivered a short lecture titled “A Pioneer’s Trail: from Savannah to Toronto to Kakuma and Beyond” at the conference.
![](https://blogs.rsc.org/lc/files/2017/11/Pinoeers_2017-1024x768.jpg)
Left to Right – Aaron Wheeler (Winner), Maria Southall (Lab on a Chip), Mark Gilligan (Dolomite). Photo taken by Darius Rackus.
Art in Science Competition
Darwin Reyes from the National Institute of Standards Technology (NIST) and Lab on a Chip presented the Art in Science award to Maria Cristina Letizia (EPFL, Switzerland). The award aims to highlight the aesthetic value in scientific illustrations while still conveying scientific merit. Check our her winning photograph “Give Bubbles a Chance” below.
![](https://blogs.rsc.org/lc/files/2017/11/Art-in-Science-for-Blog-1.png)
Left to right: Darwin Reyes (NIST), Maria Cristina Letizia (Winner), Maria Southall (Lab on a Chip), Winning photo “Give Bubbles a Chance”
µTAS Video Competition
Dolomite and Lab on a Chip announced Aniruddha Kaushik (Johns Hopkins University) as the winner of the 2017 µTAS video competition. µTAS participants were invited to submit short videos with a scientific or educational focus. The winning video “Droplet Microfluidics Rap” can be viewed on our YouTube channel, along with the runner up video “Bubbles in Complex Microgeometries at Large Capillary Numbers” by Martin Sauzade (Stony Brook University). Mark Gilligan of Dolomite presented the winner with a voucher for Dolomite equipment.
Widmer Young Researcher Poster Prize
The Widmer Young Researcher Poster Prize was awarded to Jin Ko, PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania for their poster on the prognosis of traumatic brain injury using machine learning based miRNA signatures in nanomagnetically isolated brain-derived exosomes.
![](https://blogs.rsc.org/lc/files/2017/11/Widmer2017-1-300x240.jpg)
Left to right: Séverine Le Gac and Ashleigh Theberge (Poster Award Chairs), Maria Southall (Lab on a Chip), David Issadore (PhD supervisor of award winner)
Congratulations to all the winners at the conference! We look forward to seeing you at µTAS 2018 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan!