Conference Report: Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy

Abstract

The Pittsburgh Conference (Pittcon) on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy was held between 28 February and 4 March 2010 in Orlando, FL, USA. Pittcon is an annual conference sponsored by the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh and the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh. It is one of the world’s largest conferences and expositions of instrumentation and laboratory science. According to a recent Chemical and Engineering News report, total attendance at Pittcon 2010 was 16,876. This number represents an approximately 11% decrease from 2009. The number of exhibitor booths (2005) also decreased by nearly 11% from 2009. Despite these decreases in numbers, instrument exhibitors and Pittcon officers were reported as being optimistic about a future industry and attendance upturn. The technical program offered more than 2000 technical sessions on topics covering the most recent techniques and applications in analytical chemistry along with multidisciplinary scientific disciplines such as nanotechnology, microfluidics, genomics, drug discovery and bioterrorism. As Pittcon is one of the world’s largest conferences, this conference report is a synopsis of the conference from the author’s perspective. Sessions covering the topics of microfluidics, electrochemistry and analytical science education were attended. This report also describes some of the awards given out at Pittcon that might be of interest to Bioanalysis readers.