Megan Evans

We present a brief review of this year's ASMS conference, which took place June 5–9, 2011, in Denver, Colorado.  

This year's conference was held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado, June 5–9, 2011. Sunday marked the opening of the conference with short courses going on during the day, tutorial lectures from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m., the plenary lecture from 6:45 to 7:45 p.m., and the welcome reception from 7:45 to 9:30 p.m. The tutorial lectures were given by Mark W. Duncan of the University of Colorado and James Jorgenson of the University of North Carolina. Duncan's lecture topic focused on good mass spectrometry (MS) and its place in good science. Jorgenson, who won the Lifetime Achievement award this year from 

, discussed liquid chromatography (LC) and MS. The session was very well received (see Figure 1). This year's opening plenary lecture, entitled "Our Stellar Origins Revealed by Stardust Grains," was given by Ernst Zinner of Washington University. The lecture addressed the MS analysis of tiny stardust grains from primitive meteorites and what that analysis reveals about stellar production of the elements.

 Figure 1: Photo of the speakers from Sunday’s tutorial session with the ASMS Vice President for Programs in the center. From left: James Jorgenson, Susan T. Weintraub, and Mark W. Duncan. 			

The schedule for the conference was consistent with previous years: Monday through Thursday featured oral sessions, poster sessions, workshops, plenary lectures, and corporate hospitality suites. Oral sessions took place daily from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Poster sessions and exhibits were from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. 

Two awards were presented at this year's conference: the award for a Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry and the Biemann Medal. The award for a Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry was presented to Robert J. Cotter, professor of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Baltimore, Maryland) on Monday, June 6. Cotter received the award for his invention and development of tandem time-of-flight (TOF-TOF) mass spectrometry, which utilizes high-energy collisions of up to 20 keV for collision-induced dissociation.  

The Biemann Medal was presented on Tuesday, June 7, to Dr. Béla Paizs, group leader of Gas-Phase Peptide Chemistry Group at the German Cancer Research Center (Heidelberg, Germany). Paizs was honored with this award for work that led to the detailed characterization of peptide product ion structures and dissociation mechanisms. His work has also demonstrated that the principal characteristics of peptide collision-induced dissociation spectra can be understood with basic physical and chemical laws.  

Three other awards were given out at this year's conference. Professor Scott A. McLuckey (Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana) received the Ron A. Hites award for outstanding research publication in the 

Journal of The American Society for Mass Spectrometry

. Judit Villen of the University of Washington and Brandon Ruotolo of the University of Michigan both received Research Awards that were sponsored by Thermo Scientific and Waters Corporation.  

The 60th Annual ASMS Conference will be held May 20–24, 2012, in Vancouver, Canada. Visit 

 for more information in the coming months.  

Articles

We present a brief review of this year's ASMS conference, which took place June 5–9, 2011, in Denver, Colorado.

Review of the 59th Annual ASMS Conference

We present a brief overview of this year's ASMS conference, which takes place June 5–9, 2011, in Denver, Colorado. 

A popular theme song from the 1980s comes to mind when thinking about the 59th Annual ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics — "Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came." While the conference floor is a long way from the Boston-based Cheers bar, the sentiment of welcome and familiarity among friends and colleagues is always present at this show.  

This year's conference will be held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado, June 5–9, 2011. All oral sessions, poster sessions, and exhibit booths will be located in the convention center. Although the conference does not officially kick off until Sunday, there will be several two-day short courses starting on Saturday, June 4 but attendees must preregister for those.  On-site registration for the conference only will be from 2:00 to 5:00 pm on Saturday, 10:00 am to 8:00 pm on Sunday, and 7:30 am to 5:00 pm on Monday through Thursday.   

Sunday will mark the opening of the conference with short courses going on during the day, tutorial lectures from 5:00 to 6:30 pm, the plenary lecture from 6:45 to 7:45 pm, and the welcome reception from 7:45 to 9:30 pm.  The tutorial lectures will be given by Mark W. Duncan of the University of Colorado and James Jorgenson of the University of North Carolina. Duncan's lecture topic will focus on good mass spectrometry (MS) and its place in good science. Jorgenson, who is winner of the 

 Lifetime Achievement award this year, will discuss liquid chromatography (LC) and MS. This year's opening plenary lecture, entitled, "Our Stellar Origins Revealed by Stardust Grains," will be given by Ernst Zinner of Washington University. The lecture will address the MS analysis of tiny stardust grains from primitive meteorites and what that analysis reveals about stellar production of the elements.  

Staying consistent with previous year's schedule, Monday through Thursday will consist of oral sessions, poster sessions, workshops, plenary lectures, and corporate hospitality suites. Oral sessions will take place daily from 8:30 to 10:30 am and 2:30 to 4:30 pm. Poster sessions, exhibits, and lunch breaks will be from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm.  

There are so many interesting sessions to attend at this year's conference that it can often be difficult to choose which ones to attend. Some of 

 Editorial Advisory Board members offered recommendations to help our readers narrow it down. 

Tutorial Lecture by James Jorgenson, University of North Carolina, "LC and MS: A Match Made in Heaven"

Integrated Qualitative and Quantitative LC–MS for Elucidation of PK/PD

Protein Therapeutics in Drug Discovery and Development: LC–MS Quantification

Imaging MS: Instrumentation and Ionization Sources

Challenges in Quantitative Bioanalysis in a Regulated Environment for Biomarkers

Dried Blood Spot for Drug and Metabolite Analysis

Clinical Chemistry: Advances in Separation Technologies

Small Molecule Drug Discovery: Advances in Micro- and Nano-flow Separations

PK Assays: Novel Approaches to Increase LC–MS Throughput

Biomarkers of Drug/Metabolite Toxicity: LC–MS Methods

Workshops and interest group meetings will be held Monday through Wednesday from 5:45 to 7:00 pm. Topics include MS fundamentals, polymer mass spectrometry, mass spectrometry in drug target identification, MS-MS based protein identification and characterization strategies, LC–MS libraries, career development in MS, and a discussion to generate content to stimulate undergraduate student interest in MS.   

Two awards will be presented at this year's conference: the award for a Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry and the Biemann Medal. The award for a Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry will presented on Monday, June 6, during the plenary lecture scheduled from 4:45 to 5:30 pm. The Biemann Medal will be presented on Tuesday, June 7, during the plenary lecture scheduled from 4:45 to 5:30 pm. The award recipients were not announced as of press time. 

The conference will conclude on Thursday, June 9, with a plenary lecture from Arthur Shapiro of American University. Shapiro's presentation, titled, "Why Are We Surprised by Only Some of the Things that We See? Visual Illusions, the Brain, and Baseball," will present recently developed visual illusions and discuss the implications of our perceptive (in)abilities. After the lecture there will be a closing toast, officially ending the 59th ASMS Conference. 

Discounted pricing for ASMS attendees is available for travel from the airport to downtown hotels. Rates from the ASMS website are $32 round trip on the SuperShuttle and $70 one-way on the ExecuCar from the Denver International Airport; reservations are required. The ASMS room block features all major downtown hotels with very attractive conference rates, including: Crowne Plaza ($150), The Curtis ($169), Denver Marriot ($169), Embassy Suites ($179), Grand Hyatt ($174), Hilton Garden Inn ($169), Hyatt Regency ($189 single, $199 double), and the Sheraton ($157). 

Denver features several enjoyable attractions for attendees looking to do some sightseeing in their free time. The Denver area is often referred to as the "Napa Valley of Beer" and there are plenty of breweries and microbreweries for visitors to explore. For outdoor enthusiasts, Denver offers more than 850 miles of paved off-road trails that connect to hundreds of miles of dirt trails for hiking and biking. There is also Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies who will be facing the Los Angeles Dodgers toward the end of this conference.   

Advance conference registration fees are $150 for ASMS members, $300 for nonmembers, $75 for ASMS students, and $120 for student nonmembers. One-day registration is available onsite for $175 and includes a printed program, but no conference proceedings or access to webcasting.  

Advance registration for the conference and short courses will close April 30. Those who have not registered by April 30 may register onsite at the convention center beginning Saturday, June 4, 2:00–5:00 pm, Sunday, June 5, 10:00 am–8:00 pm, and Monday through Thursday 7:30 am–5:00 pm. An additional $50 will be charged for onsite registration. There is no onsite registration for short courses. 

For further information about the conference please contact: ASMS, Tel. (505) 989-4517, fax (505) 989-1073, email: 

A preview of the this year's ASMS Conference, taking place June 5–9 in Denver, Colorado.

Preview of the 59th Annual ASMS Conference

Raleigh, North Carolina is a city steeped in rich history and natural beauty, so it should come as no surprise that the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies chose it as the site for the 37th FACSS Conference. The conference will be held October 17–21, 2010, at the Raleigh Convention Center.  

(VISIONSOFAMERICA/JOE SOHM/PHOTODISC/GETTY IMAGES)			

As this year's slogan states, the 2010 FACSS Conference will deliver on the latest breakthroughs paving the way for future analytical scientists. The conference will begin on Sunday evening with the "What's Hot Presentations," from 4:40 p.m to 7:00 p.m.  

Monday, and each day after, will begin and finish with plenary sessions by internationally recognized speakers and FACSS award winners. Kicking off the lectures on Monday will be the Arthur F. Findeis Award for Achievement by a Young Analytical Scientist winner Christy L. Haynes, University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minnesota). Haynes' presentation is titled "Electroanalytical Eavesdropping on Cellular Communications." After the first lecture, attendees will have a vast pick of poster and oral presentations to attend. Finally, Uli Hacksell of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will end the first day's events with his plenary lecture, "The Role of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy in Drug Discovery and Development: Challenges and Opportunities." 

The remaining days of the conference will follow the same format, covering a variety of interesting topics and break-through presentations. Prizes will be awarded daily for outstanding poster presentations. 

A highlight at any conference is always seeing who wins the accolades of his or her peers and what these award winners are bringing to the forefront of analytical science. FACSS 2010 is just such a conference, boasting both student and professional awards. 

This year's student awards include the Tomas A. Hirschfeld Award and the FACSS Student Award. The Tomas A. Hirschfeld Award will be presented to Anil Kodali, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (Urbana, Illinois) and Ishan Barman Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (Cambridge, Massachusetts). The FACSS Student Award will be presented to Jacob Shelley, Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana).  

There are a number of professional awards to be presented at this year's conference, as well. The Charles Mann Award for Applied Raman Spectroscopy is presented to an individual who has demonstrated advancements presented at FACSS in the field of applied Raman spectroscopy or demonstrated dedication to the advancement of the FACSS Raman spectroscopy program or the ASTM Raman subcommittee. This year's recipient will be Richard L. McCreery, who is currently Professor of Chemistry at the University of Alberta (Alberta, Canada), with a joint appointment as a Senior Research Officer at the National Institute for Nanotechnology (Edmonton, Canada). 

Another award being presented is the Ellis R. Lippincott Award, which is given to someone who has made significant contributions to vibrational spectroscopy. These contributions may be theoretical, experimental, or both, as well as basic or applied. This year's recipient is Martin Moskovits, Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, California).  

Additional award listings and recipient biographies can be found at 

. There will be official presentations of these awards made at the conference. 

More than 50 companies will showcase their products in the exhibit hall during the week. The exhibit hall will open on Monday evening with a reception. 

For more information and to register online, please visit the FACSS website at 

. FACSS International Office, P.O. Box 24379, Sante Fe, NM 87502, Phone: (505) 820-1648, Fax: (505) 989-1073, Email: 

Spectroscopy offers a sneak peak into the 37th FACSS Conference taking place October 17-21, 2010, in Raleigh, North Carolina.

FACSS 2010 Preview: Tomorrow's Analytical Sciences Today

May brought a lot more than spring to the air this year as the scientific community geared up for the 58th ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics, held at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah from May 23 through May 27.

 (ROBERT GLUSIC/DIGITAL VISION/GETTY IMAGES)			

The conference began early for some attendees, with several one-and two-day short courses beginning on Saturday May 22, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday marked the official start of the conference with more short courses and informative tutorial lectures from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.   

Following the tutorial lectures was the opening session and Plenary Lecture, which featured a talk from Leroy Hood, of the Institute for Systems Biology, entitled "Systems Medicine and Emerging Technologies: Catalyzing the Transformation from Reactive to Proactive (P4) Medicine." Dr. Hood received his M.D. from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1964 and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the California Institute of technology in 1968. He has received many awards and accolades over the years, including the 2004 Biotechnology Heritage Award, the 2003 Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics, the 2006 Heinz Award in Technology, the Economy, and Employment, and in 2007, he was elected to the Inventors Hall of Fame (for the automated DNA sequencer). 

A major highlight of ASMS was the award presentations. Each year, ASMS distributes some of the most prestigious awards in the industry, and these coveted honors attract a large number of applications and nominees. The three most prominent awards include the Award for a Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry, The Biemann Medal, and the Ron A. Hites Award. 

 The Award for a Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry was presented to Dr. Marvin L. Vestal, founder, CEO, and CSO of Virgin Instruments, on Monday, May 24. Vestal's development of the practical matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) and TOF-TOF mass spectrometers resulted in the first commercial MALDI-TOF instrument — the Voyagers series. More than half of MALDI-TOF instruments in use today are based on Dr. Vestal's designs.  

A significant accomplishment of his work is the development of a comprehensive theoretical model for the various components of a TOF analyzer with a view toward optimizing performance of a complete system for particular applications. Dr. Vestal implemented this theoretical approach to design a family of MALDI-TOF instruments that employed delayed extraction, and through further refinements, the construction of a tandem time-of-flight instrument. Advances in related technology have been combined with Dr. Vestal's theoretical predictions to provide MALDI-TOF MS and MS-MS systems that out-perform earlier instruments by orders of magnitude. The MALDI-TOF MS and MS-MS systems designed by Dr. Vestal have had and are continuing to have an enormously positive impact on many important areas of research, including proteomics, glycomics, cell signaling, structural biology, tissue imaging, and polymer science. 

The Biemann Medal was presented to Dr. David C. Muddiman, of North Carolina State University for his discovery that one strand of a PCR amplicon appears more intense than the complementary strand in an electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrum. Dr. Muddiman has developed alternative ion sources for FT-ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) MS, including the dual ESI source, MALDI-ESI, liquid MALDI-ESI, and an "air amplifier" for more efficient ESI. The significance of these advances is that they allow generation of multiple charged species, which are uniquely suited for FT-ICR-MS due to the inverse relationship between frequency and 

Dr. Muddiman has published over 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals and is recognized for his unusual combination of depth and breadth in the  vibrant field of biological mass spectrometry. He is currently Professor of Chemistry at North Carolina State University. 

The Ron A. Hites Award is given annually for an exemplary paper published in the previous two volumes of the 

Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry

. The award recognizes a high quality presentation of outstanding original research, and papers may be nominated by anyone who reads 

This year's award was presented to Prof. Facundo Fernandez for the article "Direct Quantitation of Active Ingredients in Solid Artesunate Antimalarials by Noncovalent Complex Forming Reactive Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry" (Leonard Nyadong, Sameer Late, Michael D. Green, Ajay Banga, and Facundo Fernández, 

 380–388 [2008]). Prof. Fernández is in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology. 

The award-winning manuscript was selected by a confidential committee. Selection was based on the committee's judgment of each paper's innovative aspects, technical quality, likely stimulation of future research, likely impact on future applications, and quality of presentation. Manuscript citations and impact factor may also be considered but are not the major determinants of selection. The author received a personal award of $2000 and all co-authors received certificates of commendation in addition.  

Finally, the recipients of the two 2010 ASMS Research awards were Hao Chen, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio; and Sarah Trimpin, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. These prestigious awards were designed to promote academic research by young scientists in mass spectrometry, and are open to academic scientists within four years of joining the tenure track faculty or equivalent in a North American university. Awards of $25,000 each were made to the recipients' respective universities in their names and will be used exclusively to fund their work.  

ASMS gave the scientific community another hit this year with many superb sessions, posters, workshops, and hospitality suites. Next year's ASMS conference is scheduled to be in Denver, Colorado — we at 

can't wait to see what the Rocky Mountains and the 2011 program have to offer!  

LCGC and Spectroscopy review some of the highlights and award recipients from this year's ASMS conference, held May 23–27, 2010, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

58th ASMS Conference Review

As one of the most popular conferences in the spectroscopy community, the 58th Annual ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics is sure to be a hit once again this year. The conference will be held at the Salt Palace Convention Center, 100 S. West Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah, May 23–27, 2010. All oral sessions, poster sessions, and exhibit booths will be located in the Convention Center.    

For those getting to Salt Lake City a day early, there are a few short courses offered on Saturday, May 22, and conference registration will be open from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. The program is officially scheduled to being on Sunday, May 23, with short courses from 9:00 a.m to 4:30 p.m, conference registration from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m, and tutorial lectures from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. The tutorial lectures, given by Peter B. Armentrout (University of Utah) and Walter A. Korfmacher (Merck Research Laboratories) will discuss important topics such as how collision-induced dissociation works and mass spectrometry in drug discovery and development. These will be followed by the opening session and plenary lecture from 6:45 to 7:45 p.m. This year's plenary lecturer is Dr. Leroy Hood from the Institute for Systems Biology. Dr. Hood's research has focused on the study of molecular immunology, biotechnology, and genomics, all of which will make for a very interesting lecture. Closing out the evening will be the welcome reception from 7:45 to 9:30 p.m.  

Monday through Thursday will be full program days consisting of oral sessions, poster sessions, workshops, and, last but certainly not least, corporate hospitality suites. Oral sessions are broken up into morning and afternoon groups, with the morning running from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m daily and the afternoon running from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m daily. Poster sessions, exhibits, and lunch breaks are grouped together from 10:30 a.m to 2:30 p.m., so plan meals accordingly. 

There are many interesting oral and poster sessions (too many to list completely), but here are a few that might pique some interest. On Monday: "MS Derived Peptide/Protein Biosignatures/Biomarkers," "Application of LC–MS for PK Characteristics of Biologics," "MS of Synthetic Polymers," "LC–MS Challenges/Solutions for Monitoring of Human Metabolites in Safety Test (MIST)," and "MS of Glycoprotein I." On Tuesday: "Mass Spectrometry of Protein-Ligand Complexes," "Identification of Unusual Xenobiotic Metabolites Using Mass Spectrometry," "MS of Glycoprotein II," and "Environmental Analysis: Pharmaceuticals & Pesticides." On Wednesday: "Clinical Applications of Integrated Qualitative and Quantitative LC–MS," "MS of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Water," "GC–MS Developments and Applications," and "Imaging MS: Biomolecules." On Thursday: "Electron and Photon-Based Ion Activation/Dissociation-PD, ECD, ETD, EDD," "Recent Developments in Ion Mobility MS," and "Imaging MS: Small Molecules." 

Workshops and interest group meetings will be held Monday to Wednesday from 5:45 to 7:00 p.m. daily. Workshops and interest groups are open to all as a forum for discussion, with no additional charge.  

Topics include: "Identification of Unique Metabolites: New MS Techniques and Strategies," "The Role of Mass Spectrometry in Our Future Energy Supply," "LC/MS/MS Analysis of Biomarkers and their Impact on Drug Development," "Careers of Young Mass Spectrometrists," "Towards an Automated Mass Spec Analyzer for Clinical Labs - What, When and How?" and "The Great Dissociation Debate. What's Your Favorite Way to Dissociate Ions Inside an Ion Trap?" 

There will be two awards presented at this year's conference: the award for a Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry and the Biemann Medal. The award for a Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry will be presented on Monday, May 24, during the plenary lecture scheduled for 4:30-5:45 p.m. The Biemann Medal will be given on Tuesday, May 25, during the plenary lecture scheduled for 4:30–5:45 p.m. The award recipients have not been announced yet, so be sure to attend this event to find out who is being honored this year. 

The conference will conclude on Thursday evening, May 27, with a plenary lecture from 4:45 to 5:30 p.m. given by Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Following the lecture, there will be a closing toast. 

Here is some general information on getting to and around Salt Lake City. Taxi fare from the airport to downtown hotels is approximately $20. A UTA bus leaves the airport for the City Center every 30 minutes during the day and every 60 minutes after 7:00 p.m. — one-way fare is $1.60. Bus stops are located in the parking structure between Terminal One and Terminal Two. Limited service is available on weekends and holidays. The largest hotel is Little America, which provides resort-style amenities in addition to very nice accommodations.  ASMS will provide shuttle buses to the Little and Grand America hotels. Also, the Salt Lake City Light Rail is convenient and free transportation from these hotels. 

Salt Lake City also offers several fun attractions if you find yourself with some free time. One of the main attractions is the Great Salt Lake, which has an area of 20,000 square miles, is the second saltiest lake in the world, and includes a wildlife refuge attracting millions of migratory birds every year. Another tourist spot is historic Mormon Temple Square, which features the Mormon pioneer history and genealogy, including the Salt Lake Temple, the Tabernacle, and the Family History Library. Salt Lake City was also home to the 2002 Winter Olympics and visitors are welcome to stop by Utah Olympic Park, Soldier Hollow, and Utah Olympic Oval for a variety of activities. The Olympic parks are open year-round. 

Advance conference registration fees are $150 for ASMS members, $300 for nonmembers, $75 for ASMS students, and $120 for student nonmembers. One-day registration is available on-site and for one day only. It is $175 and includes a printed program, but no conference proceedings on DVD and no access to web casting.  

The deadline for advance conference registration is April 26, 2010. Those who have not registered by April 26 may register on-site at the convention center beginning Saturday, May 22, 2:00–5:00 p.m., Sunday, May 23, 10:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m., and Monday through Thursday 7:30 a.m–5:00 p.m. An additional $50 will be charged for on-site registration. 

For further information about the conference please contact: ASMS, 2019 Galisteo Street, Building I-1, Santa Fe, NM 87505, Tel. (505)989-4517, fax (505)989-1073, Email: 

Spectroscopy previews the upcoming ASMS conference, taking place May 23–27, 2010 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

58th ASMS Conference Preview

The 57th ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry was held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 31 through June 4, 2009. 

The conference began early for some attendees, with several one-and two-day short courses beginning on Saturday, May 30 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday followed with more short courses and informative tutorial lectures from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. 

Williard H. Harrison gave a tutorial lecture titled, "The Art of Communication in the Sciences." Harrison is Dean Emeritus and a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Florida, Gainseville. He received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois, where his research interests in analytical, optical, and mass spectroscopy took flight. Professor Harrison is a member of the honor society of Phi Kappa Phi, has published 109 research papers, delivered 92 lectures, and presented 138 contributed papers, a number of which were on the topic of glow discharges. Needless to say, Harrison had a wealth of knowledge to offer on the topic of communication in the sciences. 

David E. Clemmer, a professor for the chemistry department at Indiana University, gave another tutorial lecture titled, "Ion Mobility in Mass Spectrometry." Professor Clemmer received the Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Utah and did postdoctoral work at the Himeji Institute of Technology (Japan) and Northwestern University. Professor Clemmer has published more than 135 papers and his work has been recognized with several awards, including the Fresenius Chemistry Award. He has also been a member of the U.S. Defense Science Study group. 

Following the tutorial lectures was the official opening session and Plenary Lecture, which featured a talk from Jerald L. Schnoor, of the University of Iowa, entitled, "Biofuels and Global Climate Change." This topic was especially fitting for the June conference as gas prices and temperatures are on the rise once again this summer. Schnoor received the B.S. degree in chemical engineering from Iowa State, the M.S. degree in environmental health engineering, from the University of Texas, and the Ph.D. degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas. Throughout his career, Schnoor has been very active in environmental issues. He testified several times before Congress on the environmental effects of acid deposition and the importance of passing the 1990 Clean Air Act. As Editor-in-Chief of 

, Schnoor guided the leading journal in the world in both environmental engineering and environmental science. Professor Schnoor has published (as author, co-author, or editor) six books and over 150 research articles in archival journals, in addition to serving as lead editor of a series of texts and monographs for John Wiley & Sons. His vast array of knowledge and his passion for environmental issues was evident in his lecture. Professor Schnoor was an eloquent speaker and surely set the bar high for the rest of the week with his thought-provoking presentations. 

Monday through Thursday were full program days consisting of oral sessions, poster sessions, and workshops. A few popular oral sessions from the week were, "Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry Approaches to Increase Throughput in Discovery PK Assays;" "Mass Spectrometry in Environmental Toxicology;" "Mass Spectrometry in Homeland Protection;" and "Novel LC–MS Techniques for Regulated Bioanalysis of Drugs." These are just a few of the great topics that this year's ASMS covered. All of the sessions were well researched and offered a lot of practical knowledge to any chromatography or mass spectrometry user. 

Several awards were given at ASMS this year, and they are among the most prestigious in the field. The Award for Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry is handed out each year and "recognizes a focused, singular achievement in or contribution to fundamental or applied mass spectrometry." Past winners have included some of the most well known names in mass spectrometry, including last year's awardee, Alexander Makarov of ThermoFisher Scientific. This year, two individuals shared the award, Simon J. Gaskell of the University of Manchester, U.K., and Vicki Wysocki of the University of Arizona. The co-winners were honored for their parallel work in the creation of the "Mobile Proton Model," which unified diverse observations of real-world collision-induced peptide sequencing and protein interference. Their pioneering work began  in 1992, and this model has formed the basis upon which the work of countless other researchers has been based. 

The Biemann Medal "recognizes a significant achievement in basic or applied mass spectrometry made by an individual early in his or her career." The winner also must be within 15 years of receipt of his or her Ph.D. degree at the time of nomination. This year's winner was Neil L. Kelleher of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, for his groundbreaking work in the area of "Top-down Proteomics," which he helped popularize into the household term it has become today. Under Dr. Kelleher's leadership, his lab has become a driving force in the field, generating over 130 peer-reviewed papers and winning several major awards. 

Finally, the Ron Hites Award is named in honor of Ronald A. Hites, who led the creation of the Journal of ASMS in 1988 while serving as president of the society, and honors a high-quality presentation of outstanding original research in the journal. This year's award went to Alison E. Ashcroft of Leeds University, U.K., for her paper titled "Monitoring Copopulated Conformational States During Protein Folding Events Using ESI-IMS-MS." 

As always, a staple at ASMS was the hospitality suites, which featured complimentary cocktails, food, and a great atmosphere to meet and greet colleagues. Philadelphia was a wonderful setting for this conference, which definitely showed its "brotherly love" to all the ASMS conferees. Next year's ASMS conference is scheduled to be in Salt Lake City, Utah — we here at Spectroscopy can't wait to see what next year's program has to offer! 