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The winners of the 2011 Prism Awards were recognized at Photonics West on January 25 at a gala banquet in at SPIE?s Photonics West Conference.

The Molecular Foundry of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, California) and abeam Technologies (Berkeley, California) recently published results of initial studies of a new technology that opens a unique route to develop spectrometer-on-chip.

The Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS) announced the winners of the 2011 FACSS Innovation Awards, which showcase the newest and most creative science debuted orally at a FACSS organized conference.

In response to the growing concern in the United States over the threat of nuclear terrorism, the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched the National Nuclear Forensic Expertise Development Program (NNFEDP) in 2008. Led by DNDO in close collaboration with the Departments of Energy (DOE) and Defense, the NNFEDP is an interagency effort committed to developing and maintaining a robust academic and technical pipeline to strengthen the nuclear forensics workforce.

Researchers at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (Upton, New York) used an advanced x-ray detector developed at NSLS to find compelling evidence that an unknown Rembrandt painting, titled ?Old Man with a Beard,? was an authentic work done by the Dutch master.

Physicists in Italy have developed a new method, based on infrared laser spectroscopy, to carbon-date old samples that can be performed using portable and low-cost equipment. According to the researchers, their new idea could have other applications in biomedical procedures, environmental monitoring, fundamental physics, and explosives detection.

A new class of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopic microscope has been developed at the U.S. Department of Energy?s Brookhaven National Laboratory (Upton, New York) and will be used for advanced research on a wide range of technologically important materials systems.

New Website for PIKE

PIKE Technologies (Madison, Wisconsin) debuted a new company website, www.piketech.com, in October.

Rigaku Americas Corporation recently acquired the handheld Raman technology and product lines from BaySpec, Inc. and concurrently formed a new division, Rigaku Raman Technologies Inc., for research and development, engineering, production, marketing, and distribution.

The Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS, Santa Fe, New Mexico) has changed the name of its 38-year-old annual conference from the eponymous FACSS to SCIX, with the tagline "The Great Scientific Exchange."

Waters Corporation (Milford, Massachusetts) recently welcomed the University of Minnesota?s (Minneapolis, Minnesota) Mass Spectrometry Laboratory into its Centers of Innovation Program. Waters honored the Mass Spectrometry Laboratory under the direction of Joseph Dalluge for his research in diagnostic marker assay development relevant to cystic fibrosis and other diseases.

In recognition of research focused on the detection of counterfeit and adulterated medicines and improved dissolution techniques, the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) (Rockville, MD), has awarded $150,000 in research funds under its 2011-2012 Fellowship program.

Scientists at Kinexus Bioinformatics Corporation (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), in collaboration with researchers at the Centre for High Throughput Biology at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), investigated the host signaling pathways that are affected by Salmonella enterica, a food-borne bacteria that is a leading cause of food poisoning in North America and around the world.

With a recently awarded grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Washington DC), The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) will be promoting awareness of careers in the sciences, especially environmental chemistry, among students from kindergarten through every level of higher education.