Last week in London saw the 1st UK-US Conference on Chemical and Biological Sensors and Detectors, organised by the RSC and run in collaboration with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Ministry of Defence (UK), the Home Office Scientific Development Branch (UK), US Department of Homeland Security, US Army and the Defence Threat Reduction Agency (US). Held from the 22nd-24th, most of the research presented was dominated by current threats to security, and how advances in sensor technology can help.  What made this conference so unique was the combination of scientists from both the UK and US, coupled with support and delegates from the military, government and research councils based on both sides of the Atlantic. ‘The Home Office welcomed the opportunity to expose aspects of its sensor research requirements in order to develop further interest from industry and academia’ commented Dr Andrew Bell (Home Office, UK), ‘it is at meetings of this nature that cross-fertilisation can occur to potentially provide step-changes in capability’. The interdisciplinary nature of sensors, crossing the boundary between chemistry and biology was apparent throughout the conference, and was highlighted in many of the talks and posters. Crucial to the sensing technology discussed was research concentrating on sensitivity, rapidity, high throughput, low false alarm rate and concentration. In addition, the importance of the sensing device itself, and conditions ‘in the field’ was highlighted, looking at the hardware, power supply and consumption, ruggedness, logistic burden, ease of use and understanding by the end-user of the technology. Such operational issues were discussed by the final keynote speaker, Prof. Duane Lindner (Sandia National Laboratories, USA), who questioned what we should be doing with the information such devices obtain, and what information do non-technical users need to be given in order to make a highly important decisions. Running after the conference (25th April) was a closed day of workshops. These were intended to encourage participants to concentrate on how science and technology could assist in the further development of the area of chemical and biological sensor technology, based partly on the ground covered on the preceding 2 days. To encourage discussion and brainstorming, 3 parallel breakout sessions were organised with conclusions from each being presented to all participants at the end of the day. ‘It was a good natured conference, conversations between speakers and delegates buzzed between sessions’ remarked Sheila Hardwick (Home Office Scientific Development Branch). The discussions to organise a 2nd conference in this important area of research clearly shows the success of this new UK/US collaboration.

Details of conference : http://www.rsc.org/Sensors07/ ‘Common sense for sensors’ Chemistry World Comment article: http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2006/August/Comment.asp

 

International publishing snapshot

Links and useful information

  • On a completely different note, the RSC launched a tough maths puzzle last week to highlight the difference in standards of maths abilities in undergraduate students from the UK and China. See details of its success and find out about the winner, David Brockley. http://www.rsc.org/AboutUs/News/PressReleases/2007/CompWinner.asp
  • Faraday Discussions 139: The Importance of Polymer Science for Biological Systems (26 – 28 March 2008), University of York, UK. Next years Faraday Discussion will focus on two major strands (i) the physical chemistry of macromolecules as common ground between biology and polymer science, and (ii) problems associated with biocompatibility and biodegradability of polymers. Call for oral presentation abstract deadline, 25 May, 2007. www.rsc.org/FD139