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EDITORIAL www.rsc.org/jaas | Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry
2008 Third Asia-Pacific Winter Conference on PlasmaSpectrochemistry, Tsukuba, Japan, November 16–21DOI: 10.1039/b912946b
Fig. 2 A plenary lecture was presented by Prof. Robert S. Houk.
The 2008 Third Asia-Pacific Winter
Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry
(2008 APWC) was held at Tsukuba
International Congress Center in
Tsukuba from November 16th to 21st.
This conference was organized by the
Discussion Group for Plasma Spec-
trochemistry in Japan. About 300 scien-
tists participated in the conference from
27 countries worldwide. There were
69 oral presentations, including 1 plenary,
45 invited lectures and 23 contributed
presentations, and 110 poster presenta-
tions; in total, 180 papers were presented.
On Sunday, before the conference started,
8 short courses were conducted (Fig. 1).
‘‘An Introduction to ICP-Mass Spec-
trometry’’ by Frank Vanhaecke (Ghent
University), ‘‘ICP-MS with Sector Field
Devices’’ by Norbert Jakubowski (ISAS),
Fig. 1 Eight short courses were conducted on Sunday.
This journal is ª The Royal Society of Chemistry 2009 J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2009, 24, 1141–1144 | 1141
Fig. 3 A get-together party was held on Sunday.
Fig. 4 Oral presentations were held at a convention hall on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
‘‘Elemental Speciation Analysis in
Biology and Metallomics’’ by Ryszard
Lobinski and Joanna Szpunar (CNRS),
‘‘Laser Ablation ICP-MS’’ by Detlef
G€unther (ETH Zurich), ‘‘Advanced
Course in ICP-MS’’ by Robert S. Houk
(Iowa State University), ‘‘Application of
ICP-MS in the Semiconductor Industry’’
by Mohammad B. Shabani (SUMICO),
‘‘Mass Spectrometry Imaging in Life
Sciences’’ by Alan G. Cox and Josephine
Bunch (University of Sheffield), and
‘‘Isotope Ratio Measurements by ICP-
MS and LA-ICP-MS in the Environment,
in Life Science and for Transuranic
Studies’’ by Michael E. Ketterer
(Northern Arizona University) and
Sabine J. Becker (Research Center
J€ulich). Since the number of short courses
was restricted, we were able to get a large
number of attendants for each short
course. A plenary lecture was presented
by Robert S. Houk entitled ‘‘Atomic
Spectroscopy Meets Mass Spectrometry’’
(Fig. 2). He showed high-speed video
pictures of ICP when fs-laser ablated
particles were introduced into the ICP. He
also described new instrumentation
combining electrospray ionization, ion/
ion reactions and ion mobility for
1142 | J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2009, 24, 1141–11
measuring the structure of biomolecules.
A get-together party was held at the
Congress Center after the plenary lecture
(Fig. 3). Keiichiro Fuwa (Emeritus
Professor of the University of Tokyo) and
Hiroki Haraguchi (Emeritus Professor of
Nagoya University) were present. One
convention hall was used for oral
presentations and a large multi-purpose
44 This journ
hall was used for poster presentations and
the exhibition. In the exhibition, 38
booths were exhibited by 32 companies.
On Monday, Ramon M. Barnes pre-
sented ‘‘History and Future of the Winter
Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry’’
(Fig. 4). He looked back at all the Winter
Conferences starting from 1980. The
subject topics presented on Monday were
al is ª The Royal Society of Chemistry 2009
Fig. 5 The Wednesday excursion to Nikko.
Fig. 6 A Japanese-style lunch at Nikko.
instrumentation and fundamentals,
sample introduction and preparation,
alternative plasma sources, glow
discharge sources, and environmental/
geological applications. The first
presenter on Tuesday was Klaus
G. Heumann, recipient of the 2007
European Award for Plasma Spec-
trochemistry. He presented ‘‘Species-
specific and Species-unspecific Isotope
Dilution ICP-MS Hyphenated Tech-
niques for Accurate Determinations of
This journal is ª The Royal Society of Chemistry
Environmentally and Biogenically Rele-
vant Elemental Species’’. The subject
topics on Tuesday were focused on
elemental speciation: environment,
nuclear, marine sciences, and high purity
materials including semiconductors. A
unique feature of this conference was that
there were events organized by manufac-
turers every evening. Agilent Technolo-
gies and PerkinElmer kindly organized
evening events on Monday and Tuesday,
respectively. Wednesday was a day off
2009 J. Ana
and 70 participants enjoyed an excursion
to Nikko (Fig. 5). It was a good way to
change our mood by taking a break in
the middle of the conference, and partic-
ipants could experience some Japanese
culture. At lunchtime, we tasted
‘‘tempura’’ in the Japanese traditional
way, sitting on a straw-mat (Fig. 6). On
Thursday, the conference resumed with
a presentation by Ryszard Lobinski on
‘‘Trends in Metallomics: Impact and
Limitations of ICP-MS’’. The subject
topics on Thursday were elemental
speciation: metallomics/life sciences,
applications to biological/clinical and
food/agriculture, and quality control/
standards. Half of the posters (57 papers)
were presented on Tuesday and the other
half (53 papers) were presented on
Thursday (Fig. 7). Thermo Fisher Scien-
tific kindly organized an evening event on
Thursday. The party was held in Japanese
style, serving Sushi and Sake, which
encouraged all participants to talk and
the atmosphere was very relaxed
throughout. On Friday, Frank Van-
haecke presented an invited lecture enti-
tled ‘‘Exploiting ICP-MS to its Full
Potential by Measuring Isotope Ratios’’.
The subject topics on Friday were isotope
ratio measurements, mass spectrometry
imaging, and laser ablation. At the closing
ceremony, a total of six poster awards
were presented from Journal of Analyt-
ical Atomic Spectrometry (JAAS),
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry
(ABC), and ICP Information Newsletter.
It was a hard job for the juries to select the
best poster, and I would like to thank
them for their efforts. Two JAAS
poster awards were selected from posters
presented on Tuesday and Thursday.
Kohei Nishiguchi (Sumitomo Seika
Chemicals Co., Japan) was selected from
the Tuesday posters. The title was
‘‘On-line Multielement Monitoring of
Air Samples Using ICP-Q-MS and ICP-
TOFMS Instruments Equipped with
Gas Converter Apparatus’’. He has
developed a gas converter apparatus from
air to argon to achieve the direct
analysis of airborne particulate matter by
ICP-MS. By using the apparatus, the
outdoor air sample was directly intro-
duced into the ICP-Q-MS and 40 isotopes
(m/z) were monitored every 8 min for
80 hours. From Thursdays posters
I-Hsiang Hsu (National Tsing Hua
University, Taiwan) was selected. The
l. At. Spectrom., 2009, 24, 1141–1144 | 1143
Fig. 7 Poster presentations were held at a multi-purpose hall on Tuesday and Thursday.
title was ‘‘Nanoparticle-based DNA
Sequence Assay by ICP-MS’’. He tried to
determine the concentration of Dengue
virus by analyzing the RNA-conjugated
gold nanoparticles. Based on the opti-
mized conditions, 10 femto-molar of the
virus sequence could be measured with
sufficient reliability. Some papers pre-
sented at this conference are assembled in
1144 | J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2009, 24, 1141–11
this themed issue of JAAS. It was decided
that the Fourth Asia-Pacific Winter
Conference will be held in Chengdu,
China from November 26th to 30th, 2010.
We parted in the hope of meeting again in
Chengdu. I would like to thank all the
manufacturers who supported this
conference and I also thank all
the students of Chuo University and the
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Tokyo Institute of Technology for their
assistance to make this conference so
successful.
Naoki Furuta
On behalf of the Organizing Committee
of the 2008 APWC,
Chuo University,
Tokyo, Japan
E-mail: [email protected]
al is ª The Royal Society of Chemistry 2009