SamplePrep Network Objectives

The Sample Preparation Network is the outcome of the EuChemS-DAC Study Group efforts to promote sample preparation. The Network consists of European Committee Members and welcomes as new regular members any individuals who subscribe to the objectives of the network and who are professionally engaged in or associated with sample preparation. The participation of prominent non-European experts was also anticipated, allowing transparency and dissemination of the European efforts.

The Sample Preparation Network has four Working Groups (WG) that address issues of continuing relevance within our network. The four WGs closely collaborate and organize activities such as publications in scientific journals, articles, news, stories and events in specialized forums such as science magazines, courses, special sessions in conferences and other events and actions. The four WGs are:

WG1. Science and Fundamentals

WG2. Automation, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

WG3. Information Exchange and Networking

WG4. Green Sample Preparation

The Sample Preparation Network has recently initiated the creation of task forces (TFs) that are designed to help solve specific issues and challenges affecting the sample preparation field. The first task force that was recently announced has a focus on green metrics:

TF1. Green Metrics 

Anyone interested in participating in these activities or in receiving news is welcome to become a regular member of the Sample Preparation Network. For more information on how to join the Sample Preparation Network as a regular member click here.

 

The SamplePrep Network has European and International Committee Members.

 

European Committee Members of the Network

Elefteria (Elia) Psillakis (Head of the Study Group and Network) is Professor in Water Chemistry at the School of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Greece. She received her Chemistry degree from Universitè Montpellier II (France) and her PhD from the University of Bristol (U.K.). She was selected for a Fulbright Research Fellowship and used it at Caltech, USA. Her research activities focus on (i) understanding and applying sample preparation methods and (ii) monitoring the environmental fate of organic contaminants.

Prof. Mohamed Abdel Rehim received his Ph.D. from the Department of Analytical Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Uppsala University 1994. He has been Senior/Principal Scientist at AstraZeneca R&D (Sodertalje, Sweden), Adjunct Prof. at Karlstad University, Stockholm University and now Guest Prof. at KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm). Prof. Abdel-Rehin research focuses on sample preparation for the analysis of drugs in biological fluids. He introduced powerful new tools in sample preparation such as Microextraction by Packed Sorbent (MEPS), Monolithic Packed Tips, and MIP-Tablets

Carlos Bendicho received B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from the University of Zaragoza (Spain), in 1983, 1984 and 1987, respectively. In 1988-1990, he was working as a postdoctoral fellow in the Technical University of Delft (The Netherlands). Currently, he is full professor of Analytical Chemistry at the Vigo University. His research focuses on the design of new nanosorbents and optical nanosensors for trace element analysis and speciation. He is author of 190 scientific contributions and has supervised 14 Ph.D. and 40 MSc. students. His Hirsch-index is 51.

Juan L. Benedé is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Valencia (Spain). He received his PhD in 2016 with Extraordinary Doctorate Award. His current research involves the development and application of new microextraction techniques by using (nano)materials, to be applied in different matrixes, such as biological, environmental and cosmetic. Up to now, he has published more than 30 research articles and 4 book chapters.

 

Jonas Bergquist is Full Chair Professor in Analytical Chemistry and Neurochemistry at the Biomedical Centre, Department of Chemistry at Uppsala University, Sweden, Adjunct Professor in Pathology at the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Utah, USA, and Distinguished Professor in Precision Medicine, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai, China. His group is continuously developing general analytical tools for molecular diagnostic screening and discovery of biomarkers of pathological states.

Carlo Bicchi has been Full Professor of Pharmaceutical Biology at the University of Torino since 1990. His main fields of research are development of analytical technologies for profiling and fingerprinting of biologically active secondary metabolites in vegetable matrices and food crops. Technologies include: Sample preparation; GC, GC-MS, Fast-GC, Multidimensional GC), Enantioselective GC, HPLC, HPLC-MS, SFE and SFC, Chemometric methods. He has authored or co-authored more than 280 publications and 350 oral presentations.

Cecilia Cagliero is an Assistant Professor in Pharmaceutical Biology at the Department of Drug Science and Technology of the University of Turin (Italy). She studied at the University of Turin where she obtained the BSc degree in Drug Chemistry and Technology in 2006 and the PhD in Science and High Technology in 2010. Her research is focused towards the development of advanced approaches for the characterization of volatile and nonvolatile fractions of plants.

José S. Câmara is Professor in Food Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry at the University of Madeira, President of the Food Chemistry group of SPQ, member of the Advisory Board of CQM. Published more than 170 papers (h-index=47; >6800 citations; Google Scholar). Research interests i) microextraction techniques, development and applications, ii) Foodomics; iii) high resolution separation techniques. Associate Editor of Frontiers in Food Science and Technology; member of the Editorial Board of Molecules, Foods and Beverages. Included in the list of Top 2% highly cited researchers.

Antonio Canals Hernández is Full Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Alicante (Spain). He received his Chemistry and PhD degrees from the University of Alicante. In 1987 and 1993, he received grants for postdoctoral research in the group led by Dr. Rick Browner (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA). His main research activities focus on: (i) aerosol technology in spectrochemical analysis; and (ii) development of new and more efficient energy-assisted sample preparation systems (e.g., microwave, ultrasound) and miniaturization thereof. Antonio Canals is also consultant for instrument manufacturers and laboratories.

Soledad Cárdenas is full professor of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Cordoba (Spain) where she is also served as vice chancellor for Academic Affaires and Competitiveness. Her research interest is focused on the development of new materials (e.g., monolithic columns) in the sample treatment context. Her research group has done several contributions to the development of new extraction techniques. Soledad is the coordinator of the Spanish Network on Sample Treatment which is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Innovation, Science and Universities.

Alberto Chisvert is Full Professor in Analytical Chemistry at University of Valencia (Spain). He has published more than 100 papers and book chapters, with an H-index of 26, and he has co-edited the book 'Analysis of Cosmetic Products' (Elsevier, 2007 (1st Ed.), 2017 (2nd Ed.)). He is Associate Editor for RSC Advances since 2018. His research focuses on new developments and applications of microextraction techniques, and cosmetic analysis.

Michal Ciborowski graduated Chemistry in 2003 (University of Bialystok, Poland) and obtained PhD in 2008 (Medical University of Bialystok - MUB, Poland). He did 2-years postdoc at the Centre for Metabolomics and Bioanalysis (CEMBIO), Spain. He leads Metabolomics Laboratory at the Clinical Research Centre of MUB. Research areas: application of metabolomics to study different diseases, development of new methods for metabolic fingerprinting of biological samples. He co-authored over 50 papers and 4 book chapters, h-index=15.

Frank David is Principal Scientist at the Research Institute for Chromatography (RIC) in Kortrijk, Belgium. He is the author of more than 100 scientific papers in different areas of separation science. His expertise includes capillary gas chromatography, supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), GC-MS, multidimensional chromatography (GC-GC, GCxGC, LC-GC) and miniaturisation and automation of sample preparation. Frank David is also consultant for instrument manufactures and for industrial laboratories in environmental, petrochemical, food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries. 

Dr. Ahmet E. Eroğlu received his BSc, MSc, and PhD degrees from the Chemistry Department, METU, Turkey. After post-doctoral research in the Centre for Analytical Sciences, University of Sheffield, UK (1996-1998), he joined the Chemistry Department, İzmir Institute of Technology, Turkey (2000) and became a full professor in 2007. He studies on developing new materials (MIPs, sol-gels) for determination of various substances by chromatographic and spectrometric techniques after SPE/SPME pretreatment.

Alessandra Gentili is a Full Professor of Analytical Chemistry at “Sapienza” University of Rome, where she is the Director of the advanced post-graduate course "Scientific investigation techniques in the food sector". Her research activity concerns the development of materials and devices for the sample preparation, with a special focus on its green and sustainable aspects. She is co-author of 138 publications and  a member of the editorial boards of Journal of Chromatography A and Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis Open.

Javier Hernández-Borges is Associate Professor with tenure of the Analytical Chemistry Division of the Department of Chemistry at the University of La Laguna in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). He has published around 140 papers in international journals and books, most of them dealing with analytical method development, in particular, with the analysis of pesticide, antibiotic, phthalates and estrogenic compounds in environmental and food samples.

José Manuel Herrero-Martínez is Full Professor at the Department of Analytical Chemistry. His current research interests involve the synthesis and characterization of novel stationary phases for separation techniques and sample treatment based on polymeric materials and composites.

Elena Ibañez is a Full Research Professor at the Institute of Food Science Research (CIAL) belonging to the CSIC in Madrid, Spain. She received her PhD in Analytical Chemistry at the UAM, Spain and carried out her postdoctoral training at Brigham Young University, USA and at the University of California at Davis, USA. Elena's main activity includes the study and development of new green extraction processes based on the use of compressed fluids to isolate and analyze bioactive compounds from natural sources such as food and agricultural by-products, plants and algae.

Bulat Kenessov is a Director of the Center of Physical Chemical Methods of Research and Analysis and Professor at the Department of Analytical, Colloid Chemistry and Technology of Rare Elements of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan. His research group (http://cfhma.kz/ecobio/en/) works on the development and implementation of simple and cost-efficient analytical methods for screening and quantification of organic pollutants in environmental, food and other samples. Most developed methods are based on solid-phase microextraction in combination with GC and GC-MS.

Elisabeth Leere Øiestad is associate professor at the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Oslo, and Senior Scientist at Oslo University Hospital. She holds a Ph. D. in Chemistry from the University of Oslo. Her research interest are analytical forensic toxicology, micro sampling, membrane extraction, micro extraction, development of analytical methods for medicinal drugs and drugs of abuse in biological media using LC-MS/MS, analysis in alternative media, elimination of drugs of abuse in oral fluid, studies of drugs and traffic and analysis of new designer drugs.

Maria Llompart is a Professor in Analytical Chemistry (University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain). The primary focus of her research is the design and development of extraction procedures based on advanced (micro)extraction techniques for persistent and emerging pollutants in complex matrices (environmental, agricultural, food, cosmetics). She authored more than 150 articles (h-index:40), 12 book chapters, and supervised 16 PhD theses.

Marcello Locatelli (Head of the ABL Lab, Advanced Bioanalytical Laboratory) is Associate Professor in Analytical Chemistry at the Department of Pharmacy, University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, Italy. He received his Chemistry degree and his PhD from University of Bologna (Italy). His research activities, mainly based on GAC and GSP principles, focus on (i) development and validation of chromatographic methods, (ii) innovative (micro)extraction techniques, (iii)  new instrumental configurations, (iv) characterization of new drug delivery system.

Ángela I. López-Lorente is Associate Professor of Analytical Chemistry and the secretary at the Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Córdoba (UCO, Spain). She has been Juan de la Cierva incorporación postdoctoral researcher (UCO) and Humboldt postdoctoral research fellow at Ulm University (Germany). She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry (2013) at UCO. Her current research related to sample treatment is focused on the development of new sorbents.

 

Rafael Lucena is a Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the Department of Analytical Chemistry and secretary of the Institute of Nanochemistry of the University of Cordoba (Spain). His main research interests on the sample treatment context are related to the development of new extraction techniques (like stir membrane extraction or effervescent assisted extraction), the application of new solvents (e.g., switchable solvents, ionic liquids) and the development of new sorbents (e.g., paper-based sorptive phases).

Antonio Martín-Esteban is Senior Researcher and Head of Department of Environment & Agronomy at INIA (Madrid, Spain). He is author/co-author of over 85 publications (H-index 37) including original research papers, reviews and book chapters.  His current research is focused on the development of improved sample preparation methods, including the use of molecularly imprinted polymers, for the determination of organic compounds both in environmental and food samples by chromatographic techniques.

Luigi Mondello is Full Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Messina, Italy. His research is focussed on the development of multidimensional chromatographic instrumentation and software (GC×GC, LC×LC, LC-GC×GC, LC-GC-GC-GC-prep.), coupled to state-of-the-art MS, for the study of complex matrices constituents and contaminants.

José Manuel F. Nogueira is Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department of the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon (Portugal). He has been involved in the field of analytical separation science, with special emphasis on modern sample preparation approaches, mainly in innovative sorption-based microextraction techniques. Currently, publishes and is member of the editorial board of international scientific journals, integrates scientific committees of conferences and participates in research projects of the area

Francisco Pena-Pereira received his PhD (2009) in Chemistry from the University of Vigo (Spain) and the Habilitation (2018) in Chemistry from the Gdańsk University of Technology (Poland). At present, he focuses on the implementation of nanomaterials in miniaturized systems for analyte sensing at the University of Vigo (Spain) as distinguished researcher. He has published 61 scientific papers, 8 book chapters and 2 books (as Editor). His Hirsch-index is 28 (Scopus).

 

Valérie Pichon is full professor at Sorbonne University (Paris). Her major research interests include the synthesis and the characterization of stationary phases based on antibodies or aptamers and molecularly imprinted polymers to selectively extract target organic compounds or ions present at the trace level in complex samples. She also works on the miniaturization of these sorbents to couple them on-line with nanoLC-MS or to develop lab-on-chip systems. She has authored of more than 130 publications and 6 book chapters.

 

Verónica Pino is a Professor of the Chemistry Department (Analytical Chemistry Division) at Universidad de La Laguna (Spain) and leads the Laboratory of Materials for Chemical Analysis Research Group. Her research interests in analytical sample preparation include the development of novel liquid-based and sorbent-based microextraction approaches while including novel materials such as metal-organic frameworks, biopolymers, and ionic liquids and derivatives.

 

Giorgia Purcaro holds a degree in Food Science and Technology and a Ph.D. in Food Science at the University of Udine (Italy). She did her postdoc at the University of Messina and at Dartmouth College (USA) before being appointed as Analytical Chemistry professor at the University of Liége (Belgium). Main research topics: multidimensional separation techniques (LC-GC, GCxGC, LC-GCxGC); sample preparation; food contaminants (including MOSH&MOAH); volatiles analysis.

 

Lourdes Ramos is a Senior Scientific Researcher of the Spanish Scientific Research Council (CSIC), at the Department of Instrumental Analysis and Environmental Chemistry of the Institute of Organic Chemistry (Madrid, Spain). Her main research interests are the development of novel miniaturised sample preparation approaches for the fast and green determination of trace organic pollutants in environmental and food samples, and the evaluation of hyphenated gas chromatography-based techniques for the non-target and suspect characterization of organic contaminants in complex mixtures.

Léon Reubsaet is Professor at the Department of Pharmacy, University of Oslo (Norway). He has been visiting scientist at Caltech (Pasadena, CA) and Albert Heck’s lab (Utrecht, Netherlands). His speciality is LC-MS based targeted protein determination from dried sample matrices. He authored over 120 peer reviewed publications, is member of the International Advisory Board of Journal Separation Science Plus (Wiley), Editorial Board member in several MDPI analytical journals and Associated Editor in Frontiers in Analytical Science.

Victoria Samanidou is Full Professor and Director of the Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Her research interests focus in the development of sample preparation methods using sorptive extraction prior to chromatographic analysis. Her h -index is 34 (Scopus ID 7003896015). She is editorial board member of more than 10 scientific journals and guest editor in almost 15 special issues

Torsten C. Schmidt is full professor for Instrumental Analytical Chemistry at the University of Duisburg-Essen and scientific director at the IWW Water Centre in Muelheim an der Ruhr. Since 2013, he is president of the German Water Chemistry Society. In 2013, he received the Fresenius Award of the German Chemical Society. His main research interests include the development and application of analytical methods with focus on separation techniques (GC, LC), sample preparation and compound-specific isotope analysis, process-oriented environmental chemistry and oxidation processes in water technology.

Petr Solich is Professor of Analytical Chemistry at Faculty of Pharmacy, Charles University in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. Currently serves as Vice-dean for strategic development and EU funds and Head of Analytical Chemistry Department. His research interests are automation of analytical procedures, chromatographic methods (monolithic columns) and modern sample-preparation methods, applied to pharmaceutical and bioanalytical analysis. 

 

Marek Tobiszewski is Professor at Analytical Chemistry Department of Gdańsk University of Technology (Poland) where he received PhD in 2012 and habilitation in 2017. His scientific interests include analysis of organic compounds in environmental samples and introduction of green chemistry concept to analytical chemistry. His scientific achievements include the assessment of the environmental impact of chemical reagents and solvents as well as various chemical processes. He also deals with development of liquid phase microextraction techniques applying green solvents.

 

Lorena Vidal is Professor at the Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition and Food Science Department, University of Alicante, Spain. She received her degree in Chemistry (2004) and PhD in Chemistry (2009) from University of Alicante. In 2010, she received a grant for a postdoctoral research in Helsinki, Finland. Her research focuses on Green Analytical Chemistry, developing environmentally friendly methods for trace analysis based on liquid-phase and solid-phase (micro)extraction techniques.

Mariosimone Zoccali is an Assistant Professor in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Messina (Italy). He received a BSc degree in Drug Chemistry and Technology in 2010 and a PhD in Food Chemistry and Safety in 2014 from the University of Messina. His research is focused on the development of multidimensional chromatographic techniques (GC×GC, LC-GC×GC, SFE-SFC) for the study of complex matrices constituents and contaminants. 

International Committee Members of the Network

Jared L. Anderson is the Alice Hudson Professor of Chemistry at Iowa State University and also Faculty Scientist at Ames Laboratory. He was a faculty member at The University of Toledo from 2005 through 2015. Anderson’s research focuses on the development of stationary phases for multidimensional gas chromatography, alternative approaches in sample preparation, particularly in nucleic acid extraction, and developing analytical tools for trace analysis within active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Fabio Augusto graduated from the University of Campinas, Brazil (B.Chem., 1986; M.Sc., 1990 and D.Sc., 1996) and has been professor in the same institution since 1992. Since them, he also spent time as a research assistant at Prof. Pawliszyn group (University of Waterloo, Canada) and as invited researcher on Prof. Valérie Pichon group at ESPCI (Paris, France). His current research focus is the interfacing of microextraction techniques to Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas chromatography (GC×GC).

Eduardo Carasek received his Ph.D. degree at the University of Campinas – Brazil in 1997, and concluded postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Waterloo – Canada in 2006, 2010 and 2014, where he developed analytical methods based on solid phase microextraction. He works as Full Analytical Chemistry Professor at Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis – Brazil. His research interest is to develop microextraction methods for torganic and inorganic compounds in several matrices coupled to chromatography and spectrometry.

Purnendu K. (Sandy) Dasgupta is Professor and Hamish Small Chair at The University of Texas at Arlington, USA. His current research interests involve miniature analyzers, especially as they are used in challenging (including extraterrestrial) environments, means to study and reduce dispersion in small systems and liquid and ion chromatographic detection schemes with a small footprint that do not pay performance penalties for being small.

 

Emanuela Gionfriddo is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry of The University of Toledo (OH, USA). She joined Prof. Pawliszyn’s group at the University of Waterloo (Canada) in 2014 as Post-Doctoral Fellow and manager of the Gas-Chromatography section of the Industrially Focused Analytical Research Laboratory (InFAReL). Research work in Dr. Gionfriddo’s lab focuses on the development of advanced analytical separation tools for the analysis of complex biological and environmental matrices, with emphasis on alternative green sample preparation methodologies.

 

James Grinias is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at Rowan University. His research focuses on liquid chromatography and microfluidics, as well as the design of low-cost and miniaturized platforms to facilitate these techniques. He is also actively involved in several leadership roles with the separation science community, including the Chromatography Forum of Delaware Valley and ACS Subdivision on Chromatography & Separations Chemistry.

 

Zhi-Yuan Gu is Professor at Nanjing Normal University, China. His research interest is the development of porous materials for efficient separation. He obtained BS and PhD from Nankai University and worked as a postdoc at Texas A&M University. He published more than 30 papers on J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Nat. Commun., Chem. Sci., Adv. Funct. Mater., Anal. Chem. etc as the corresponding author. His group website is www.zygulab.com.

 

Bin Hu is a professor of Chemistry at Wuhan University. He received his PhD from Wuhan University in 1992. He is the editor of Journal of Chromatography A and the Advisory/ Editorial Board members of Analytical Chemistry, Metallomics, Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry. He has published over 400 scientific papers. His research interests are mainly focused on ICP-MS based strategies for biomedical analysis, metallomics, sample pretreatment techniques. He received numerous scientific awards including the Natural Science Prize from MOE of China.

Fernando M. Lanças is full Professor and the leader of the Chromatography Group at the Institute of Chemistry, University of São Paulo at São Carlos, Brazil. Prof. Lanças advised ca. 130 Ph.D. and Master Thesis, published more than 300 papers, 20 chapters and 7 books.  His main research interest at the moment involves the full miniaturization and automation of online sample prep-chromatography-mass spectrometry, towards the Unified Chromatography. 

Zoltán Mester, National Research Council of Canada, Canada

Maria Eugênia Costa Queiroz is Associate Professor at the Departamento de Química da Faculdade de Filosofia Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto da Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Brasil. In 2000, she received a PhD in Analytical Chemistry (USP). In 2007, she worked at the University of Waterloo (Canada) during her international PhD project. Her research focuses on development of selective stationary phases, innovative microextraction techniques and on-line chromatographic techniques in combination with tandem mass spectrometry to determine drugs and biomarkers in biological samples from patients with neurodegenerative disorders.

Elena Stashenko, Universidad Industrial de Santander Bucaramanga, Colombia

Frantisek Svec received both degrees B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in polymer chemistry. First, he worked in the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry in Prague. Then, he joined faculty at the Cornell University followed by the UC Berkeley and LBNL. Recently, he accepted position at Pharmaceutical Faculty of the Charles University in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. Dr. Svec authored over 490 publications that produced more than 25,000 citations and an h-index close to 100. 

Zhugen Yang is faculty member at Cranfield University (UK), leading Advanced Sensors Laboratory. His group is developing low-cost and point-of-use sensors for environmental science, public health and biomedical diagnostics. He has authored over 60 peer-reviewed articles (such as Nat Common, PNAS) and awarded over £2.5M grant,  serving as guest editor, associate editor/advisory board member for 7 international journals. His research has been featured in Science and widely reported by public media.