By now I'm sure you're all eager to enjoy some warm weather while hearing about the latest developments in laboratory technology, so please plan to be in Palm Springs for LabAutomation 2009 on January 24th through 28th.  The program promises to be the best ever!  The LabMan talked to Dr. Scott Martin, professor of chemistry at Saint Louis University, this years program chair about the event. 

Scott indicates that the conference will have around 4500 participants this year from 45 different countries.  There will be 250 multinational companies represented on the exhibit floor, including eight invited startup companies.  The scientific program features the "top 100" podium presentations in the field of laboratory automation, and over 200 poster presentations.  The education program consists of 18 short courses offered on Saturday and Sunday.  The ALA will also be hosting its regular career fair, where job openings will be posted and free resume evaluation and mock inteviews will be offered to help job candidates sharpen their skills.  Late night with LRIG will return as a venue for technology providers to present rapid-fire summaries of their new products. 

The plenary speakers this year are Klavs F. Jensen, Ph.D., Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who will talk about his microtechnologies work;  John Abele Co-founder, Boston Scientific and chairman of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology);  and Jeffrey Wigand, Ph.D., the real-life scientist behind Russell Crowe's character in the Academy Award nominated movie, "The Insider."

Scott says that it's always hard to top the previous years excellent LabAutomation program, but his team is giving it their best shot.  They've invited some top scientists from around the world, including Darryl Bornhop from Vanderbilt, Mark Porter from the University of Utah and John Yates from Scripps.  His program chairs have also chosen speakers from a great wealth of submitted abstracts.  The program track topics include detection & separation; micro & nanotechnologies, high-throughput technologies, informatics and emerging technologies, this year largely focused on food and agriculture science.  There will be two informatics panel discussions hosted by Reinhold Schaefer from University of Applied Sciences Wiesbaden, Germany.  Scott is especially proud of the poster program at the conference, which he feels is among the best he sees at the many conferences he attends.  He says the poster session is very well attended and displays a lot of good science.  The student presenters are always excited about the awards that are given for best posters. 

This year marks the 5th anniversary of the ALA Innovation Award, which consists of a $10,000 cash award to the top research presentation given at the conference.  All the previous award winners will return to give updates on their work, including Dana Spence from Michigan State, Dave Eckert from IBIS Biosciences, Andre Marziali from the University of British Columbia, and James Landers from the University of Virginia.

Last, but certainly not least, Scott reminds us about the ALA New Product Awards, given to the most innovative new technology displayed on the exhibit floor.  The LabMan will interview each of these winners for our Feburary podcasts, along with the student poster winner. 

So, come to Palm Springs!  Enjoy the sun, sample the rich program  and catch up with your colleagues while enjoying excellent food and wine.  It's always a great event put on by ALA!   

Until next time,

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto