In late August MSoP welcomed almost 40 graduate students, researching in eight different EU countries, to the latest incarnation of this series of meetings, initiated by Dr. Hall, together with Prof. Börje Sellergren (Malmö University) and Dr. Panagiotis Manesiotis (Queen’s University Belfast) in 2002.
Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are synthetic polymer receptors designed to be capable of selective recognition of entities from small drug molecules and environmental pollutants to large proteins and even cells! Their tailored recognition properties make them attractive as selective sorbents in a diverse range of applications, such as separations, sensing and drug discovery/delivery.
Over the course of the two-day meeting, there were 26 oral and 13 poster presentations, all of very high quality, spanning a wide range of imprinting topics. As befits current trends in the field, many lectures concerned the areas of peptide/protein imprinting and the incorporation of imprinted polymers with electrochemical sensors. However, there were also lectures on diverse such topics as the use of MIPs in the analysis of boar taint and the incorporation of MIPs in cosmetic products!
Two plenary lectures were also delivered. Prof. Goreti Sales (BIOMARK, Porto, Portugal) highlighted strategies “Towards successful protein imprinting”, while our own Dr. Gubala posed the following, thought-provoking question: Nano-engineered material: Have we promised too much?
The organisers wish to express their gratitude to the Materials Division of the RSC for the financial support which allowed this meeting to take place as a free event. We also thank all the graduate students who attended for their contribution to the success of the meeting and look forward to the next Symposium, which will be hosted by Prof. Sales in Porto in 2017.
For more information on this event as well as the next Symposium, please contact us at gssmip@gmail.com.