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

44 This journ

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: nfuruta@chem.chuo-u.ac.jp

al is ª The Royal Society of Chemistry 2009