2013/08
Dear Subscriber !

Welcome to the August issue of EVISA's Speciation Newsletter.

Two weeks ago the 11th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant attracted about 850 participants from all over the world.  Paul Wheelhouse, Scottish Government Minister for Environment and Climate Change, issued the following statement: "Sound science, strong evidence and engaged citizens means properly informed choices and effective action on the ground and this is essential if the harmful effects of mercury pollution are to be reduced".

With respect to science EVISA is not only informing about the progress of research but is also actively promoting studies related to speciation analysis (see the list of publications with participation of EVISA).

Mercury is in the EVISA headlines very often. This element is present in the environment in form of very toxic species, and distributes itself around the globe with no respect for national borders calling for a legally binding international agreement but also for local activities of all stakeholders.

A new study now shows that the transformation of inorganic mercury to the even more hazardous organic mercury species by bacteria can even start from elemental mercury (see the news below).

Another epidemiological study could not find any relationship between methylmercury exposure and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) phenotypic behaviours in children. As with similar studies, also this one comes with several caveats. Primarily because of the decades-long period of the study and variations in data collection over time, the researchers couldn’t adjust for all of the possible variables that might have skewed the analysis.


For most of you, holidays are now over and important events are ahead (see the agenda of events).
NEWS | EVENTS | VACANCIES | DIRECTORY | LINKS
NEWS

EVISA is keeping you updated  with what is going on in speciation analysis. In this section you will find news about the most current research results, about trends, legal issues and informations from manufacturers in the field of speciation analysis.

With all the links to further information and publications the News archive is a valuable collection of "hot topics" in speciation analysis. We continuously update even former news with new links and information so that all news are actual all the time.


Bacterial methylation of mercury not only starting from oxidized mercury
More mercury species than previously thought can be converted by bacteria to methylmercury and thus be accumulated along the food chain. The discovery, published last Sunday in Nature Geosciences, is adding another piece of the puzzle desribing the mercury cycling in the environment and will hopefully help to elucidate the challenges associated with mercury pollution and its cleanup.
more

New Seychelle study: Mercury and autism not linked
Prenatal exposure to methly mercury in fish is not associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) phenotypic behaviors. This is the result of a large cohort study of mothers and children in the Indian Ocean nation Seychelles, where residents consume 10 times the amount of ocean fish as U.S. residents.
more

Thermo Fisher Scientific Wins Five R&D 100 Awards
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. announced that five of its analytical instruments were included on the R&D Magazine list of the year’s top 100 technology innovations.
more

Agilent Technologies Triple Quadrupole ICP-MS Selected for R&D 100 Award
The editors of R&D Magazine have announced the winners of the 51st annual R&D 100 Awards, which recognize the 100 most technologically significant products introduced into the marketplace over the past year. One of the awarded instruments is the 8800 Triple Quadrupole ICP-MS from Agilent Technologies.
more


EVENTS

With a list of about 50 current entries EVISA is informing you about interesting events and keeps you updated with their deadlines. By consulting our list of deadlines you won't miss the opportunity for early registration at reduced fee or the chance to submit your contribution in time.
 more infos...

Please recognize the following deadlines:

FACSS 2013: 40th Annual Conference of the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies
Date:     September 29,2013 - October 3,2013
Location:     Milwaukee, Wisconsin
September 6,2013    Early registration at reduced fee




Please do not hesitate to inform us in case that your conference related to speciation analysis is missing in our Agenda.

EMI 2013: EnvironMetal Isotopes: International Conference on „Stable Metal Isotope Fractionation – Processes and Applications in Environmental Geochemistry”
Location: Ascona, Switzerland
Date: 18.08.2013 - 23.08.2013
more

10th NTES Conference: Trace & Mineral Elements in Health & Disease
Location: Loen, Norway
Date: 25.08.2013 - 29.08.2013
more

17th Euroanalysis 2013, the European Conference on Analytical Chemistry
Location: Warsaw, Poland
Date: 25.08.2013 - 29.08.2013
more

ISBM 2013: International Symposium on Biological Monitoring
Location: Lowry Centre, Manchester, UK
Date: 09.09.2013 - 11.09.2013
more

6BBAC — 6th Black Sea Basin Conference on Analytical Chemistry
Location: Trabzon, Türkei
Date: 10.09.2013 - 14.09.2013
more

5th FIRMS Network conference
Location: Montreal, Canada
Date: 11.09.2013 - 13.09.2013
more



VACANCIES

EVISA provides information about open positions for Ph.D. students, PostDocs and permanent staff in the field of speciation. Looking to fill a vacancy or needing a new career challenge? Either way this service is FREE. Many laboratories and research facilities (from Greenland to Crete) have already found their highly educated stuff through this service by EVISA. If you would like to post an open position here, please contact us at info@speciation.net !


Doctorates

University of Lleida (Spain): Electroanalytical techniques for speciation analysis
The research group in the Universitat de Lleida (Catalonia, Spain) offers a PhD position, meant to continue the development of the new electroanalytical technique AGNES, while comparing and improving other techniques (DMT, DGT, etc.) to gain an understanding of the distribution of a metal ion in its chemical forms and the ensuing (bio)availability. Possible applications: environmental, toxicological and agrifood studies (from dissolution of nanoparticles in natural waters to the impact of metals on the quality of wine).
more


Postdoctoral

University of Graz, Austria: Trace Element Metabolomics
A Post-Doc position in analytical chemistry is available in the Institute of Chemistry – Analytical Chemistry at Uni-Graz. The position is within the research group Trace Element Metabolomics (TEM).
more

University of Bayreuth: Postdoctoral Researcher within the Environmental Geochemistry Group
The Environmental Geochemistry Group at the University of Bayreuth is a team of young researchers, looking for a highly motivated scientist, holding a PhD in geosciences, analytical (environmental) chemistry, geomicrobiology or related subjects who is interested in establishing independent research in the area of inorganic or organometallic environmental geochemistry.
more


Other

U.S. FDA: Trace Metal Speciation
The Food and Drug Administration has an opening in Laurel, MD, to participate in the development, optimization and routine use of methods to detect and speciate trace metals in tissues, biological fluids and animal feeds.
more



DIRECTORY

EVISA's directory of scientist is a versatile tool to facilitate contact with scientists in the field of speciation and related sciences. The directory is fully searchable for names, addresses, research topics etc.  You should bookmark this directory as an always up-to-date address book. (In order to hinder SPAM robots for collecting the E-mail accounts, we hide them in a special format).

More than 280 active scientists in the field of speciation analysis already joined the directory. Join this great directory that is extensively linked to all type of other information on this site, such as homepages, conferences and literature.

If your entry is still missing in this directory, please contact us at info@speciation.net.

more


LINKS

EVISA provides an easy access to external information. Our database contains more than 2680 links to relevant information from numerous top scientific resources spread over the whole Web. The database is searchable both via full-text and categories such as elements, type of species and type of information. We are permanently updating our links section.

If your web site is missing here, please e-mail your link information to info@speciation.net.

 
more

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No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. The Newsletter represents only the opinion of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Community. The European Community is not responsible for any use that might be made of the information provided.