Congratulations to the prize winners at the JPA’s Annual Meeting on Photochemistry 2017!

This month saw the occasion of the Japanese Photochemistry Association’s (JPA) Annual Meeting on Photochemistry 2017. The meeting was held over three days at Tohoku University in Sendai and was a huge success, attracting 665 delegates and featuring 167 oral presentation and 314 poster presentations. 

The Royal Society of Chemistry was on hand to offer prizes for student presentations. The winner of the Photochemical & Photobiological Science prize for outstanding oral presentation was awarded to Michihisa Ueda, of The University of Tokyo, for his presentation on Accelerated Ring Inversion of a [4n]annulene Derivative by Photo-stabilization of its Planar Transition State.

 
 L-R: Prof. Hiroshi Fukumura (Committee Chair and the president of National Institute of Technology, Sendai College) Dr Hiromitsu Urakami (RSC), Michihisa Ueda (PPS award winner), Prof. Hiroshi Miyasaka (President of the JPA, Osaka University)

 

The winner of the Journal of Materials Chemistry A prize for outstanding poster presentation was awarded to Nobuhiko Nishitani, of Kyoto University, for his presentation on STM Observation of 2-D Self-Assembly of Photochromic Diarylethenes Having Oligopeptide Chains at the Liquid/ Graphite Interface and Its Photoresponsive Behavior.

 
 Journal of Materials Chemistry A winner Nobuhiko Nishitani (third left) along with other award winners, being presented their awards by Prof. Hiroshi Fukumura (Committee Chair and the president of National Institute of Technology, Sendai College – far left), Dr Hiromitsu Urakami (RSC – second left) and Prof. Hiroshi Miyasaka (President of the JPA, Osaka University – far right)  

 

The Royal Society of Chemistry offers its hearty congratulations to all prize winners!

 

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RSC Photochemistry Group Meeting 2017

by Robert Edkins

The RSC Photochemistry Group meeting was held from 14th-15th September 2017 at the University of Birmingham’s Chemistry Department, attracting around 70 participants from across the UK and Ireland. The meeting was designed to be a forum for early career researchers (ECRs) in photochemistry to present their work in a relaxed setting and to network with other Group members. 15 ECRs gave oral presentations covering the full range of modern photochemistry in its widest sense. The talks were of outstanding quality and led to excellent discussions. It is clear that the field is alive with many up-and-coming researchers.

Supplementing the ECR talks were two Keynote Lectures by Helen Fielding (UCL) with her fascinating talk “Shedding new light on photochemistry in nature: biochromophores, protein chromophores and molecular motors” and by Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences Editor-in-Chief Dario Bassani (University of Bordeaux), who gave a stimulating lecture entitled “How to use supramolecular interactions to control excited states.” Two further tutorial lectures with a more pedagogical feel from Rob Neely (University of Birmingham) on “The chemistry of super-resolution microscopy” and Stan Botchway (Central Laser Facility) on “Excited-state lifetime imaging in bio-medical applications” completed the very diverse and interesting programme.

(L to R) Dario Bassani and Helen Fielding deliver their Keynote Lectures
(L to R) Rob Neely and Stan Botchway deliver their Tutorial Lectures

 

The poster session with ca. 35 posters was well attended and generated lots of dialogue amongst the participants, which continued later on at the conference dinner held in Birmingham city centre. It was especially pleasing to see the engagement of the ECRs at these networking events, which hopefully has stimulated many new collaborations.

 

     
Early career researchers enjoying the poster sessions

 

Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences sponsored a prize for the best oral and best poster presentations. It was difficult to pick winners due to the extremely high standard of all of the presentations, but after much deliberation between the committee members, the oral prize was awarded to Dr Robert Godin of Imperial College London for his excellent talk entitled “Understanding Heterogeneous Photocatalysts By Time-Resolved Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy.” The poster prize was awarded to Fiona Black of Newcastle University for her very engaging poster “Probing Charge-Transfer Dynamics Using Time-Resolved Spectroscopy.” Congratulations Robert and Fiona!


Robert Godin of Imperial College London receives the PPS Oral Presentation Prize
(L to R) Robert Godin (PPS Oral Prize winner), Robert Edkins (Organizer),  Zoe Pikramenou (Organizer)

Fiona Black of Newcastle University receives the PPS Poster Presentation Prize
(L to R) Robert Edkins (Organizer), Zoe Pikramenou (Organizer),
Fiona Black (PPS Poster Prize winner)

Two further poster prizes, sponsored by the RSC Photochemistry Group, were awarded to Yisu Wang from Cardiff University for a poster entitled “Novel plasmonic nanoparticles for applications in quantitative biosensing and bioimaging” and Huayun Shi from Warwick University for a poster on “Photoactive platinum anticancer complexes.” Congratulations Yisu and Huayun!

All of the RSC Photochemistry Meeting prize winners together
(L to R) Yisu Wang (RSC Photochemistry Group Poster Prize winner), Huayun Shi (RSC Photochemistry Group Poster Prize Winner), Robert Godin (PPS Oral Prize winner), Fiona Black (PPS Poster Prize winner)

The organizing committee (Zoe Pikramenou, University of Birmingham, and Dr Robert Edkins, University of Oxford) hope that all attendees of the meeting had an enjoyable and stimulating experience and we thank you all for your participation during the meeting. We also thank PPS for sponsoring the prizes as well as the Faraday Division for a small meeting grant, University of Birmingham for hosting the event, and Photonic Solutions for sponsoring the poster session.

We would like to take this opportunity to encourage you all to join the RSC Photochemistry Special Interest Group next time you renew your RSC membership and to follow us on Twitter @RSC_Photochem.

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Sunscreen study says SPF ratings should not be taken as red

Written by Polly Wilson for Chemistry World

Researchers shed light on discrepancies between lab tests and reality

Source: Brian Diffey Lab tests for measuring sunscreen effectiveness have some limitations.

Scientists in the UK and Switzerland say consumers should rethink how they interpret the sun protection factor (SPF) printed on sunscreen bottles.

Retailers have long used SPF to indicate how long sunscreen protected skin can endure sunlight without burning. Concerns that topical sunscreens do not provide the protection they claim are not new and arise from discrepancies between simulated and natural sunlight. Lab tests also assume consumers apply an even layer of sunscreen (2mg per cm2of exposed skin). In reality, this is in the region of 0.5–1.5mg cm–3, is far from uniform, and there are other factors, such as perspiration and rubbing, to consider.

Interested? The full story can be read in Chemistry World.

The original article can be read below and is free to access until 4th October 2017

Labelled sunscreen SPFs may overestimate protection in natural sunlight
Brian Diffey* and Uli Osterwalder
Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., 2017, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C7PP00260B

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Arnold Rikli Award 2017

Research Award of the Jorg Wolff Foundation under the patronage of the European Society for Photobiology: Arnold Rikli Award 2017

For photobiological investigations in relation to human beings, we hereby announce the awarding of the 18. Arnold Rikli Prize in the amount of 10.000,– Euro for the year 2017. The prize was originally awarded by the Institute F. Wolff of Riehen, Switzerland and first established in 1989. Jorg Wolff, the brother of the former sponsor, continues this tradition. The prize has been announced by the Jorg Wolff foundation every year since 2006 and stands under the patronage of the European Society for Photobiology (ESP).

The submitted reports should cover investigations on biological effects of optical radiation (ultraviolet, visible, and infrared radiation). The results should show new aspects for diagnostic investigation and/or therapy or provide guidelines for the practical utilization of biologic basics and/or future research with optical radiation.

Unpublished papers, or papers published after January 1, 2015 must be submitted in English language and be delivered to the office address or submitted electronically to the e-mail address mentioned below not later than February 28, 2018. The submission should focus on one area of speciality. An additional abstract of no more than 300 words should outline the research and the significance of it. In the case that the submission is “in cumulo” (five studies at most) a brief explanation should be provided uniting the presentations together. It is desirable to enclose a letter of support for the award nomination.

An independent jury will evaluate the investigations and nominate the winner. The presentation of the award will take place at the Symposium “Licht und Gesundheit” in November 2018 in Berlin (Germany).

Office address: Dr. Peter Bocionek
c/o JW Holding GmbH
Koelner Strasse 8
D-70376 Stuttgart
Germany
e-mail: peter.bocionek@jw-holding.de

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Outstanding Reviewers for Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences in 2016

Following the success of Peer Review Week in September 2016 (dedicated to reviewer recognition) during which we published a list of our top reviewers, we are delighted to announce that we will continue to recognise the contribution that our reviewers make to the journal by announcing our Outstanding Reviewers each year.

We would like to highlight the Outstanding Reviewers for Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences in 2016, as selected by the editorial team, for their significant contribution to the journal. The reviewers have been chosen based on the number, timeliness and quality of the reports completed over the last 12 months.

We would like to say a big thank you to those individuals listed here as well as to all of the reviewers that have supported the journal. Each Outstanding Reviewer will receive a certificate to give recognition for their significant contribution.

Professor Adelaide Almeida, University of Aveiro
Dr Ross Boyle, University of Hull
Dr Frank de Gruijl, Leiden University Medical School
Dr Thierry Douki, CEA-Grenoble
Dr Axel Griesbeck, University of Cologne
Dr Asta Juzeniene, Oslo University Hospital
Dr Uwe Pischel, University of Huelva
Professor Eric Vauthey, University of Geneva
Professor Rene Williams, Universiteit van Amsterdam

We would also like to thank the Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences board and the Inorganic community for their continued support of the journal, as authors, reviewers and readers.

If you would like to become a reviewer for our journal, just email us with details of your research interests and an up-to-date CV or résumé.  You can find more details in our author and reviewer resource centre

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Research Award of the Jörg Wolff Foundation: Arnold Rikli Award 2016

For photobiological investigations in relation to human beings, we hereby announce the awarding of the

17. Arnold Rikli Prize

in the amount of 10.000,– Euro for the year 2016.

The prize was originally awarded by the Institute F. Wolff of Riehen, Switzerland and first established in 1989. Jörg Wolff, the brother of the former sponsor, contin-ues this tradition and the price is announced by the Jörg Wolff foundation every year since 2006.

The submitted reports should cover investigations on biological effects of optical ra-diation (ultraviolet, visible, and infrared radiation). The results should show new as-pects for diagnostic investigation and/or therapy or provide guidelines for the practi-cal utilization of biologic basics and/or future research with optical radiation.

Unpublished papers, or papers published after January 1, 2014, must be submitted in English or German language and be delivered to the office address mentioned below not later than February 28, 2017 (two copies required). The submission should focus on one area of speciality. An additional abstract of no more than 300 words should outline the research and the significance of it. In case that the sub-mission is “in cumulo“ (five studies at most) a brief explanation should be provided uniting the presentations together. It is desirable to enclose a letter of support for the award nomination.

An independent jury will evaluate the investigations and nominate the winner. The presentation of the award will take place at the Symposium “Biologic Effects of Light”, June 21 to 23, 2017 in Homburg/Saar (Germany).

Office address:

Dr. Peter Bocionek
c/o JW Holding GmbH
Kölner Straße 8
D-70376 Stuttgart
Germany

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Major society chemistry publishers jointly commit to integration with ORCID

ORCID provides an identifier for individuals to use with their name as they engage in research, scholarship and innovation activities, ensuring authors gain full credit for their work.

Today, we signed their open letter, along with ACS Publications, committing to unambiguous identification of all authors that publish in our journals.

The official press release can be read here.

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Top 10 Reviewers for Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences

In celebration of Peer Review Week, with the theme of Recognition for Review – we would like to highlight the top 10 reviewers for Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences in 2016, as selected by the editor for their significant contribution to the journal.

Name Institution
Professor Thomas Bally University of Fribourg
Dr Axel Griesbeck University of Cologne
Dr Asta Juzeniene Oslo University Hospital
Dr Thierry Douki CEA-Grenoble
Professor Adelaide Almeida University of Aveiro
Professor Prue Hart Telethon Institute for Child Health Research
Professor Eric Vauthey University of Geneva
Dr Ross Boyle University of Hull
Professor Richard Givens University of Kansas
Dr Dominik Wöll Aachen University

We would like to say a massive thank you to these reviewers as well as the Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences board and all of the research community for their continued support of the journal, as authors, reviewers and readers.

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The 16th International Congress on Photobiology

The 16th International Congress on Photobiology
Córdoba, Argentina
September 8–12, 2014

The 2014 International Congress of Photobiology was held in the “Pavillion Argentina” located within the University Campus of the National University of Córdoba, Argentina. This conference was the 16th in a series sponsored by the International Union of Photobiology (IUPB, www.iuphotobiology.com). This was the first time that the IUPB Congress was held in the Southern Hemisphere and also the first time held South of the Rio Grande. The University of Córdoba is the oldest in Argentina (founded in 1613) and the City of Córdoba offered a wonderful frame (and great weather) for the Congress.

All aspects of the interaction of light with the biosphere were covered, such as photosynthesis, photomorphogenesis, photomovement of plants and bacteria, the interaction of UV light with ecosystems (including bacteria, phytoplankton, zooplankton, algae, plants, mammalian cells, and  humans), circadian rhythms in plants and animals, vision and light-induced damage to the retina, UV induction of skin cancer, as well as the use of light for the treatment of various illnesses and the photochemistry of xenobiotics and biological molecules. The use of light-based technologies for the study of biological processes was also the subject of various symposia.

The Congress registered 507 participants from 38 Countries. 160 participants were from Argentina, 44 from Brazil, 17 from Chile, 60 from the USA, 50 from Germany, 20 from Japan, etc. 280 of the participants were young fellows (graduate students and young researchers).

The Scientific Programme (see the day by day program in pdf format at www.iuphotobiology.com) consisted of 3 Plenary Lectures: Nathan Nelson (Israel) on the “Evolution of the Photosynthetic Apparatus”, Thomas Schwarz (Germany) on “Photoimmunology”, Ernst Bamberg (Germany) on “Channel Rhodopsins and Optogenetics”, 9 Keynote speakers highlighting the frontiers of research in various areas: Carlos Ballaré (Argentina), Rosalie Crouch (USA), Anderson Garbuglio (Brazil), Mario Guido (Brazil), Hideki Kandori (Japan), Alberto Kornblihtt (Argentina), Dimitra Markovitsi (France), Frank Vollmer (Germany), Horacio Zagarese (Argentina), and 51 Symposia (each 130 minutes with between 4 and 6 participants), organized each one by two (sometimes one) scientists who were (was) also contributors to the Symposium. There were also two marvelous special (Historical) Lectures: Winslow Briggs (USA) on his “Scientific and Life Experience”, Phil Hanawalt (USA) on the “History of Research on the DNA Repair Mechanism”. A Symposium on Photomovement was held in Memoriam of Masamitsu Watanabe (deceased in 2013), who had a major role in the discovery of photoreceptors implied in photomovement (see the paper by Peter Hegemann).

IUPB awarded three Finsen Medals with Lecture to Masamitsu Wada (Japan), Herbert Hönigsmann (Austria), and Douglas Brash (USA), one Finsen Lecture to Roman Ulm (Switzerland), as well as one Edna Roe Lecture to Chikako Nishigori (Japan).

Finsen Medal winner Masamitsu Wada Finsen Medal winner Douglas Brash
Graduate students and young researchers presented 200 posters on all areas of photobiological research. Six poster prizes in the form of book vouchers were awarded during the closing ceremony: two from Springer Verlag, two from the Royal Society of Chemistry and two from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).

Most symposia were organized with strong collaboration of colleagues from Latin-America. Some research areas are strong in Argentina (e.g., plant photomorphogenesis, blue-light-induction of microorganism behaviour, vision and UV damage to retina, circadian rhythms, photoecology, UV influence on the environment) and in Brazil (PDT, DNA photodamage, bioluminescence, biodiesel photoproduction), whereas some others are weak (e.g., molecular aspects of photomedicine, optogenetics, and areas of research that require complex instrumentation: e.g., ultra fast reactions). All symposia were well attended, especially by the young colleagues.

Many of the subjects treated were directly related to the problems and/ or peculiarities encountered in Latin America, such as the photobiology of extremophile bacteria at high altitude in the Puna (North of Argentina and Chile, Bolivia and Perú) as well as in Antarctica, the effect of the Ozone hole in the ecosystems in Argentina and Chile, the special properties of alga in Chile, the increase of UV-induced skin diseases in Brazil and others.

The participation of Argentine Scientists working abroad: Víctor Batista, Roberto Bogomolni, Gonzalo Cosa, Raquel Galián, Thomas Jovin, Diana Kirilovsky, Maria Andrea Mroginski, Ana Moore, Juan C. (Tito) Scaiano, Graciela Spivak, Cristian Strassert, María Vernet, Matias Zurbriggen, and Silvia Braslavsky was very important for the consolidation of the research ties between Argentine research groups and groups abroad. This has a special value in view of the very dramatic brain drain the Country suffered since 1966 and until 2001, which has being reverted by several actions taken in the last few years, in particular since the creation of the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovative Production, MINCyT, in 2011.
Herbert Hönigsmann, Finsen Medalist, between Robert Knobler and Henry Lim (right, President of IUPB)
The Argentine science administration Agencies strongly supported the Congress with grants from the Argentine Research Council, CONICET, (ca. 10.000 U$S) and from MINCyT (ca. 12.000 U$S). This permitted waiving the registration fee of all Argentina graduate students and several young scientists. In addition, the programme R@ices from MINCYT financed the travel to the Congress of several of the Argentine colleagues working abroad.

There was also important support (both financial and logistic) by the German Institutions (Research in Germany grouping DAAD, DFG, Fraunhofer, Humboldt Foundation) and the Max Planck Society as well as financial support from IUBS (International Union of Biological Societies), IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry), TWAS (The World Academy of Sciences) as well as ESP, ASP and the French Society of Photobiology, who helped financing the participation of young graduate students. These grants permitted waiving the fees of Latin- American graduate students and young researchers.

Several International companies and Argentine representatives of instrumentation supported the Congress; major contributors were: L’Oreal: in particular for sponsoring the contributors of the Symposium on Photoprotection, BASF and Johnson&Johnson. Some of the sponsoring companies had an exhibition booth in the foyer of the Pavillion.

All abstracts of Plenary, Special, and Keynote Lectures, as well as of the contributions to the Symposia and the posters presented were published on-line and can be found in pdf format at www.iuphotobiology.com.

The Editors of the Journals Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences (PPS, the Journal of the European Society of Photobiology, ESP, and the European Photochemical Association, EPA), Photochemistry and Photobiology (P&P, the Journal of the American Society of Photobiology, ASP), and Pure and Applied Chemistry (PAC, the Scientific Journal of the Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, IUPAC) have agreed to publish, in each Journal, some of the Lectures and Symposia presented during the Congress. The papers will then be collated in a visrtual issue. All submitted papers underwent the normal evaluation procedure. We deeply thank the authors for submitting to the three Journals their presentations to the Congress.
Henry Lim, IUPB President  (2009-2014), and John Spudich (right), elected IUPB President (2014-2018), offer the Finsen Lecture Award to Roman Ulm
A major spin-off (s) of the Congress was the creation of the Argentine Group of Molecular Photobiologists (GRAFOB in Spanish, http://grupoargentinodefotobiologia.info/drupal/). This group already held two meetings in preparation of the 16th ICP: one in 2011 in La Plata and the second in 2013 in Córdoba (same place as 16th ICP 2014), with ca. 90 participants in each of them.

Several contacts were established between Latin American Research Groups, including some that could not participate of the Congress. The Argentine photobiology group met during the Congress and it was agreed to organize a third GRAFOB  meeting in Tucumán in 2016.

The Executive Board of IUPB had a regular meeting during the Congress and also held a general assembly. The new elected Executive Board is: President: John Spudich (USA), Secretary: Evelyn Sage (France), Treasurer: Franz Trautinger (Austria), Vice-Presidents: Roberto Bassi (Italy), Carlos Ballaré (Argentina), Gary Halliday (Australia), Yoshitaka Fukada (Japan), Liason member as organizer of the 16th ICP: Silvia Braslavsky (Germany) (See the site www.iuphotobiology.com).

Chikako Nishigori, Edna Roe Lecturer, between  Herbert Hönigsmann and

Franz Trautinger

The participants had the oportunity of enjoying a Tango show during the opening reception on Sunday evening and Argentine folk dancing on Thursday evening.

The 17th ICP will be held most probably in 2018 in the UK.
Silvia Braslavsky
Chair, 16th IC
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Workshop on Radiation and Photochemistry

PPS is very proud to have supported the recent Workshop on Radiation and Photochemistry which was held at Savitribai Phule Pune University between January 10th – 12th 2016.

The PPS poster prizes awarded at the ceremony went to:

Vadde Ramu for his poster entitled, ‘New imaging reagents for lipid dense regions in live cells and the nucleus in fixed MCF- 7 cells’ from National Chemical Laboratory, India.

Meenakshi N. Shinde for her poster entitled, ‘Photophysical properties and DNA interaction studies of two newly synthesized Cobalt (II) complexes’ from Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune.

Rupali G. Shinde for his poster entitled, ‘Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Esculetin and its Derivatives: A Comparative study’ from Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai.

Congratulations to all 3 of the winners!

Graphical Abstract

Graphical Abstract

Graphical Abstract
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