ACS Sensors, Analytical Chemistry, Journal of Proteome Research, and the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry are excited to announce the winners of the 2019 Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship Award: Charles S. Henry, Professor of Chemistry, Colorado State University Chunhai Fan, Chair Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Ester H. Segal, Associate Professor of Biotechnology and […]

  • Charles S. Henry, Professor of Chemistry, Colorado State University
  • Chunhai Fan, Chair Professor, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
  • Ester H. Segal, Associate Professor of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

Second Annual Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship

The ACS measurement journals and the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry are pleased to present the 2019 Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship Award winners. This award honors members of the community who have made a major and recent impact in the field of measurement science. Winners are selected based on their lecture abstracts and their research output during the past five years.

“We are delighted with the list of awardees for the 2019 Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship. They represent a stunning list of scientists from across the globe and are at the vanguard of the stunning analytical chemistry done throughout the world,” The award is given to one recipient from each region:

“We wanted to cover both the breadth of the incredible analytical chemistry we are publishing, as well as represent the major regions of the globe,” says John R. Yates, Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Proteome Research, Justin Gooding, Editor-in-Chief, ACS Sensors, and Jonathan Sweedler, Editor-in-Chief, Analytical Chemistry.

While each of the award winners have different backgrounds and countries of origin, they all have contributed greatly to measurement science.

Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship Symposium at Pittcon 2019

The second annual Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship Award will be presented at Pittcon 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, held March 17-21.

ACS Sensors, Analytical Chemistry, Journal of Proteome Research, and the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry encourage you to attend the Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship Awards symposium, which will take place on Wednesday, March 20 from 8:30 AM -12:40 PM in Room 126.

Below are three brief interviews with the winners regarding their research and their thoughts on the latest in measurement science.

Charles S. Henry

John R. Yates, Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Proteome Research, remarked that “Paper-based microfluidics is one of the hottest moves in sensing at present and Chuck Henry has been responsible for many of the seminal advances in this area of research.”

Charles S. Henry is a professor of Chemistry at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. Here’s what he had to say about the field and his own research:

What do you consider to be the most important advancement in measurement science in the past five years?

I think this is a really hard question to answer because so many advances have been made in so many areas of measurement science. There is not a single distinguishing development but overall significant progress in multiple areas.

What advances has your lab made in the past five years?

In the last 5 years, we have made significant progress in the development of low-cost paper-based microfluidic devices. For decades, the microfluidics community has discussed the use of devices outside the laboratory. Real applications have often been limited, however, because the equipment, such as pumps, have remained large. Paper-based devices rely on capillary wetting to generate fluid flow. Over the last five years, we’ve focused on pushing the boundaries of what we can do with this technology. On the detection side, we have extended the use of electrochemical and colorimetric detection modes as well as methods that quantify based on distance instead of intensity. On the application side, we have continued to push the boundaries on what we can use the technology for environmental analysis, in an effort to aid in understanding human exposure. We have also expanded into biological analysis, specifically targeting sensitive, selective methods for bacteria and virus detection. Finally, we have been pursuing new work on fast flow in paper devices. We have already shown we can increase flow >100-fold relative to many devices. Our approach has been to understand the basic phenomenon and then exploit this to improve system performance and/or functionality.

What’s next in your research?

We see two major thrusts in this field going forward. First, we are trying to push the limits of how fast we can go with paper-based devices. Current devices rely on slow wetting meaning assays can take >30 minutes. We think we can reduce the assay time to <5 minutes in many cases and potentially <2 minutes in some cases by increasing flow. As a result, assay time will no longer be limited by flow rates. Second, we are pushing more and more systems into the field for both environmental and medical applications. Allowing people in the field to tackle critical problems without a centralized laboratory will benefit many people in developed and developing countries alike.

What measurement science problem are you hoping to see get solved in the next decade?

While I think we are making great strides in paper-based devices, the measurement science problem that I want to see tackled is that of the microbiome. In particular, the interaction between bacterial, viral, and fungal species and surrounding tissue (human, animal, plant) is critical to understanding and treating diseases that threaten human health and the food supply. Understanding the communication between these entities is critical and will require multiple approaches to both identify the molecules involved and quantify with this spatial and temporal resolution.

Chunhai Fan

“It is fantastic to see one of the Editorial Advisory Board members of ACS Sensors receive this award for his seminal work on DNA nanotechnology as applied to sensing. He has been at the very forefront of this field since its inception,” said Justin Gooding, Editor-in-Chief, ACS Sensors.

Chunhai Fan is a University Chair Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China. He also serves as an Associate Editor of ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Here’s what he had to say about the field and his own research:

What do you consider to be the most important advancement in measurement science in the past five years?

There have been a lot of exciting advances in measurement science during the past several years. What I’m familiar with is the advances in live-cell imaging. Clearly, super-resolution cell imaging is the most important thing in the field.

What advances has your lab made in the past five years?

We developed framework nucleic acids (FNAs) that are artificial nucleic acids nanostructures with superior organization abilities. We demonstrated the use of FNAs for various diagnostic and therapeutic applications in living cells and in vivo.

What’s next in your research?

We aim to develop new FNA-based tools for studying intracellular events and for rewiring signal pathways in living cells.

What measurement science problem are you hoping to see get solved in the next decade?

Interfacing (seamlessly) artificial FNA nanostructures with living cells.

Ester Segal

“Ester’s work on photonics crystal sensing in general and microbial detection, in particular, is exceedingly important in the race against antimicrobial resistance,” stated Jonathan Sweedler, Editor-in-Chief, Analytical Chemistry.

Ester H. Segal is an Associate Professor of Biotechnology and Food Engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. Check back soon to see her responses.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2019 Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship Award!

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