SPEC PerkinElmer 11.10

Authors

Jürgen Popp

Jürgen Popp is the Scientific Director of the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (IPHT) in Jena, Germany, and a professor at Friedrich Schiller University Jena. His research applies laser-based spectroscopy and imaging — especially Raman spectroscopy — to infection research, oncology, and precision medicine, with a career-long focus on moving label-free, real-time photonic diagnostics from the bench to the clinic. Since 2006 he has built IPHT into an internationally recognized biophotonics center and established collaborative networks including the transatlantic Center for Biophotonic Technology and Artificial Intelligence and the Jena-Davis Alliance of Excellence in Biophotonics. The Ellis R. Lippincott Award, established in 1975 and jointly presented by Optica, the Coblentz Society, and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, recognizes work that has significantly influenced other scientists' research in vibrational spectroscopy.

Jay Kitt

Jay Kitt is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Utah, working within Joel Harris's analytical chemistry research group. His work applies confocal Raman microscopy to chromatographic silica surfaces, supported phospholipid bilayers, and DNA hybridization kinetics, including surface-area-enhanced Raman spectroscopy as a quantitative, reproducible alternative to plasmonic SERS. He previously received the Society for Applied Spectroscopy's Distinguished Service Award. The Emerging Leader in Molecular Spectroscopy Award, sponsored by Spectroscopy magazine, recognizes scientists early in their careers making significant contributions to molecular spectroscopy; past winners include Lu Wei, Lingyan Shi, and Ishan Barman.

Lingyan Shi

Lingyan Shi is currently a tenured Associate Professor in the Shu Chien-Gene Lay Department of Bioengineering at UC San Diego. She arrived at UC San Diego in 2019, following her postdoctoral training in the Department of Chemistry at Columbia University. Her laboratory focuses on developing and applying super resolution multimodal nanoscopy for studying metabolic changes in aging and diseases. She was Spectroscopy’s 2025 Emerging Leader in Molecular Spectroscopy award recipient.

Giulio Colnaghi has been working at Milestone since 2003. He is a chemist and started his career at Milestone as an application specialist, focusing on new method development and addressing specific needs in sample preparation. Later, he transitioned to Area Manager for most countries in Latin America and the eastern part of Europe, and then for the U.S. Since 2018, he has held the position of Marketing Manager at Milestone headquarters in Bergamo, Italy. During his career at Milestone, Giulio has worked with hundreds of laboratories and chemists to help them in overcoming daily challenges in elemental analysis by optimizing their workflow and methods. Today, Giulio aims to support worldwide laboratories to enhance their efficiency using state-of-the-art technologies.

Anika Retzmann

Anika Retzmann is a postdoctoral researcher in the Atom Mass Lab at the University of Calgary. She is an analytical chemist and isotope science researcher specializing in elemental and stable metal isotopic analyses, with applications spanning environmental science, archaeometry, biomedicine, and the life sciences. Her work focuses on advancing analytical methodology to better understand the roles and signatures of essential elements in biological and environmental systems.

Michelle Sestak

Michelle Sestak joined HORIBA in 2012 after earning a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Toledo. She specialized in spectroscopic ellipsometry for cadmium telluride thin-film solar cells. Starting as a thin film applications scientist, she later expanded into Raman spectroscopy and now works as a Raman and thin films applications scientist.

Steven Bell

Steven Bell is a professor of physical chemistry at Queen's University Belfast. His research focuses on spectroscopy, especially Raman spectroscopy, and the development of nano- and microstructured materials, with both areas intersecting in the creation of new SERS substrates.