Sarah Theiner on Winning Spectroscopy’s 2026 Emerging Leader in Atomic Spectroscopy Award

The Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry took place last week in Tucson, Arizona, at the El Conquistador Tucson, a Hilton Resort. One of the highlights of this conference was the presentation of Spectroscopy’s Emerging Leader in Atomic Spectroscopy award. This award, which we present annually at this conference or the European Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, recognizes an atomic spectroscopist that is within 10 years of receiving their highest academic degree (2). The award is designed to highlight the awardee’s career strides, and the impact that their work has made on the advancement of atomic spectroscopy techniques and applications (2).

Sarah Theiner, a Sales Manager at Nu Instruments, is this year’s winner of the Emerging Leader in Atomic Spectroscopy award. This achievement recognizes her extensive work and contributions in elemental bioimaging and mass spectrometry (MS) across interdisciplinary research. Theiner’s research integrates laser ablation inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), single-cell ICP-MS, and quantitative calibration strategies to address biological and clinical questions (2). Her research is designed to advance atomic spectroscopy as an effective platform for elemental and imaging-based studies (2).

Theiner is most known for developing high-resolution imaging workflows using LA-ICP-time-of-flight mass spectroscopy (TOFMS) and multi-element analysis techniques for biological and clinical applications (2). She has also contributed to collaborative projects that explored the pharmacokinetics of metal-based anticancer drugs and single-cell analysis, resulting in over 45 peer-reviewed publications and multiple invited talks at international conferences (2).

As part of our coverage of the Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, we sat down with Theiner to talk about her research, career, and what winning the Emerging Leader in Atomic Spectroscopy award. In this video segment, Theiner reflects on winning the Emerging Leader in Atomic Spectroscopy Award, explaining what winning the award means to her.

This interview clip is the first part of our interview with Theiner. To check out the rest of our coverage of the Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, click here.

References

1. IASA, Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry. IASA. Available at: https://iasa.world/winter-plasma-conference (accessed 2026-01-19).
2. Workman, Jr., J. The 2026 Emerging Leader in Atomic Spectroscopy Award. Spectroscopy, in prepress.