In this Pittcon preview, we highlight some important talks, workshops, and symposiums happening during the conference.

A 2026 study published in the journal Remote Sensing tested Germany’s EnMAP hyperspectral satellite to see if it could identify and map acid mine drainage (AMD) and associated mineral residues from a legacy sulfide mine in Sardinia, Italy.

In this episode, Mercedes Bertotto, who is the Founder of Vibralytics, discusses her background in spectroscopy, highlighting how her experience working in a national reference laboratory in Argentina led to her next opportunity to work with chemometrics and spectral sensing in the Netherlands.

HÜBNER Photonics has announced the launch of the C-WAVE BTS, which is a continuous-wave (CW), single-frequency titanium:sapphire laser.

In this tutorial article, we review the latest in microplastic analysis, highlighting the techniques that have been frequently used in this space and where they have been most effective.

Validated green ICP-OES/ICP-MS workflow quantifies 25 toxic metals in wastewater at trace levels, guiding labs on tiered monitoring and compliance.

At Pittcon, generative artificial intelligence will be presented at the James L Waters Symposium on Monday, March 9, 2:30 PM to 4:40 PM in Room 221A. Generative artificial intelligence has transitioned from a conceptual novelty to a practical approach for innovation in spectroscopic data analysis. During 2025, a small set of highly influential publications crystallized this transformation by demonstrating how generative models can synthesize realistic spectra, solve inverse spectral problems, accelerate materials discovery, and automate molecular structural elucidation. This article reviews six pivotal contributions published in 2025 that collectively define the state of generative artificial intelligence in spectroscopy. These works establish theoretical foundations, survey emerging methods, introduce physics-informed generative architectures, and demonstrate transformative applications across vibrational, electronic, and magnetic resonance spectroscopies.

The final FDA guidance on Computer Software Assurance (CSA) was released in September 2025. This was followed by an update in Feb 2026 incorporating Quality Management System (QMS) based on ISO 13485:2016. Many proponents particularly outside of the medical device ecosystem have said that CSA will replace Computerised System Validation (CSV). But will it? Really?

A recent study demonstrated that Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy combined with chemometric modeling can accurately quantify ethanol in beer.

In this article, we highlight some of the important talks on atomic spectroscopy that will take place at Pittcon on Sunday March 8th.

Top articles published this week include a look at the top 10 applications of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy in biopharmaceutical analysis, an interview about the current trends in spectroscopy, and an inside look at handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) instrumentation.

Spectroscopists are routinely embracing complex algorithms to handle high-dimensional, nonlinear, and multimodal data. Why is this happening? We explore this question in this tutorial.

How are ICP-MS and ICP-OES revealing heavy-metal trends in pet food? In this short tutorial, we explain how these techniques have been tracking pet food trends, and what owners can do in response to these trends.

A study published in Food Control shows that near-infrared spectroscopy can accurately and non-destructively authenticate the feeding regime of purebred Iberian pigs in vivo.

In an upcoming “Pathways in Spectroscopy,” episode, John Margeson of Thermo Fisher Scientific will discuss what it is like to work as a product manager for a major scientific instrument company.

Click here to access the Spectroscopy January/February 2026 North America PDF in an interactive format.

A study in the Journal of Environmental Management shows that wastewater treatment plants in coastal Catalonia remove most microplastics but still release tens of billions of particles annually, with emissions peaking during warmer, tourism-heavy months due to environmental and population-driven pressures.

This dynamic video from the Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry reveal 2026 trends in plasma MS, imaging, and clinical analysis.

During 2025, near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has accelerated its transition from a mature analytical technique into a digitally enabled cornerstone of biopharmaceutical manufacturing and quality control. Advances in miniaturized instrumentation, process analytical technology (PAT), chemometrics, artificial intelligence (AI), and real-time process control technologies have driven NIR spectroscopy into new roles spanning upstream fermentation, downstream processing, raw material characterization, and continuous manufacturing. This article reviews and contextualizes ten influential peer-reviewed publications from 2025 that collectively define the current state and near-term trajectory of NIR spectroscopy in biopharmaceutical analysis.

In an interview recapping the Photonics West Conference, which took place in San Francisco, California in January, Alexis Hobl of CEA-Leti sat down with Spectroscopy to discuss his work integrating quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) with silicon photonic platforms and how it is evolving mid-infrared (MIR) photonics.

Part 2 of our conversation with John Margeson focuses on how Thermo Scientific’s Niton handheld XRF analyzers are engineered to meet the demanding needs of high-volume scrap recycling.

Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy has undergone a notable evolution in biopharmaceutical analysis over the past three years. Advances in crystal engineering, process analytical technology (PAT), chemometrics, machine learning (ML), and hyphenated analytical platforms have significantly expanded FT-IR’s analytical scope. This article reviews ten of the most influential publications from 2023–2026 that exemplify FT-IR’s growing role across the biopharmaceutical lifecycle, from drug substance design and formulation to manufacturing, quality control, and clinical bioanalysis.

In this video, we preview an upcoming two-part episode of Pathways in Spectroscopy.

If you have downtime at Pittcon 2026, here is how you should spend that time.

In this interview segment, Kelly Elkins and Jaden Force of Towson University focus to the challenges forensic scientists face, including how to position themselves for a career in this field.

Between 2023 and 2026, Raman spectroscopy transitioned from a supportive analytical technique to a central enabling technology in biopharmaceutical analysis and manufacturing. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), automation, and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) have expanded Raman’s role from nutrient monitoring to real-time prediction of critical quality attributes (CQAs), inline control of complex bioprocesses, and non-destructive analysis of finished drug products. This article reviews ten of the most influential publications from this period, highlighting how they collectively reshaped expectations for Raman spectroscopy as a process analytical technology (PAT) and a quality-by-design (QbD) tool in modern biopharmaceutical development.

Click here to access the Spectroscopy 2026 January/February Europe PDF in an interactive format.

This year’s Emerging Leader in Atomic Spectroscopy Award recipient is Sarah Theiner, whose research is focused on the application of atomic spectroscopy techniques—laser ablation inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and single-cell ICP-MS—to expand these analytical techniques as tools for biological and clinical imaging and drug-distribution studies.