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| Chair Luis Colon UB @ Buffalo 645-6800 ext. 2143 lacolon@buffalo.edu |
Chair-Elect Mary McCourt Niagara University 286-8257 |
| Vice-Chair Curt Mancuso Life Technologies 774-6618 cmancuso@lifetech.com |
Acting Secretary Mary O'Sullivan Canisius College 888-2352 osulliv1@canisius.edu |
| Treasurer Andrew Poss Allied-Signal 827-6268 |
Double Bond Staff:
Editor and Publisher Business Manager Joanna Christopher West Valley Nuclear Services ZoeWolf@Whitesparrow.com |
| Assistant Editor Patty Shelley Canisius College 888-2341 FAX 888-3112 shelleyp@canisius.edu |
| Topic: | Judgment Day for the Turin Shroud |
| Speaker: | Walter C. McCrone McCrone Research Institute, Inc. 2820 S. Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL 60616-3292 |
| Date: | Friday, October 20, 2000 |
| Place: | The Eagle House Restaurant 5559 Main St., Williamsville, NY |
| Fellowship: | 6:30 PM Cash at the bar in the main area |
| Dinner: | 7:00 PM 3 meal choices @ a cost of $15.00 per person (1) Open Sliced Top Round of Beef w/Mushroom Sauce (2) Roast Turkey Dinner w/Stuffing (3) Penne Pasta Olio tossed w/Olive Oil roasted garlic, tomatoes, broccoli and cheese |
| Talk: | 8:00 PM |
| Reservations: | Patty at 888-2340 by Friday, September 22, 2000 |
Hello everyone, happy Autumnal Equinox!
The season of local section meetings was kicked off with about a dozen of us “working up an appetite” at Life Technologies on Grand Island on the 26th of September. We started with a presentation by Curt Mancuso in the lovely conference room lined with plaques honoring the company as a quality supplier.
Next came the tour, led by Mike Madigan. We learned that all chemicals have to be kept locked up and are marked with green released-for-use stickers before they can be used to make up the cell growth media. Life Technologies is GMP and cGMP compliant (Good Manufacturing Practices and current GMP). Everything must be documented. Some of the uses for their products include growth of skin cells for burn victims, killer cell activation for lymphoma victims, and insect growth.
There are two major product lines, liquid and powdered media. The main raw material is water, purified Grand Island tap! The water system contains special piping, polished welds, and sanitized metal, all to reduce the “bio-burden” of micro-organisms that could become contaminants. There is also an impressive air handling system, dust collectors and HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filters, with a large turnover rate to diminish cross contamination. Also to reduce that bio burden are “bug-zappers” everywhere, and, we were told, mouse traps that are always empty. The second largest raw material is salt, mainly sodium chloride.
The various components are parceled out in a segregated weighing area using computerized balance systems and bar codes. The standard products contain 30-40 chemicals, while the more complex ones contain 55-80. Fetal bovine serum serves as the food in many of the formulations. We saw bottles of it (frozen) thawing out for the next day's batch.
The liquid formulations must be mixed in a specific order to solubilize the components and ensure compatibility and homogeneous mixing. Some of the solids must be desiccated prior to mixing to prevent lumping. For the powdered formulations the components are placed in a large mill containing polished stones that mix and reduce the particle sizes. The particle size distribution is also important, and there is a special laboratory with instrumentation to determine that.
For part of the tour we “gowned up” with shoe covers, hats, cloth suits, and beard covers for those with beards or mustaches. This was our chance to “work up” an appetite! We saw the liquid formulation area where there are huge tanks with ladders for manual addition of components. This area will be revamped soon with an automated filler, expected to increase capacity by about 50%! The dry media area has also recently been redone. Life Technologies has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and Biotechnology News articles for its innovative “subgroup” technique for batch formulation, increasing capacity dramatically. Tank cleaning processes are validated and checked periodically.
The filling area is a class 10,000 clean room, meaning there are <10,000 particles per cubic foot per hour. Filling is aseptic, the liquid is passed through two 0.2 micrometer filters for dual polishing. The workers are covered completely, wearing masks to control contamination. There is an aggressive training regime for the technicians working there.
All too soon the tour was over, and we moved across the island to the River Oaks Country Club. Dinner selections were varied and the service was excellent, the prices were reasonable and the company was very enjoyable. I'm looking forward to the October meeting with Walter McCrone. I wonder if he's bringing his funnel?
Editor
Joanna Christopher
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About the Topic
The art of successfully forging works of art requires that no mistakes be made in style, composition, or date of the materials used. As the forger becomes more sophisticated, the methods of detection must become even more sophisticated. It is interesting that the painter of the 650 year-old Turin Shroud has been able to completely fool a learned group of 30 space-age scientists with their access to every type of physical analytical instrumentation. Fortunately, one group of microanalysts using only a 400 year-old instrument, the light microscope, has revealed the true nature of the relic as a medieval work of art.
About the Speaker
Mr. McCrone did his undergraduate and graduate
work at Cornell University. He then worked at the Illinois
Institute of Technology Research Institute for 12 years before
starting his own research laboratory, McCrone Associates, in
1956. His special interests have always been chemical microscopy,
crystallography, and ultramicroanalysis. He and his associates
have applied these methods to everything from the Vinland Map to
the Shroud of Turin as well as trace science in civil and
criminal investigations. He has written more than 300 technical
publications, including 11 books. In 1960, he started the McCrone
Research Institute, devoted to teaching and fundamental research.
About the same time, he organized corresponding research and
teaching organizations in England. In 1979, he retired from
McCrone Associates in order to spend full time teaching. He is
editor and publisher of the international journal of applied
microscopy, the MICROCOPE. He is a fellow of the American
Institute of Conservators, the International Institute of
Conservators, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences; an
Honorary Fellow of the Royal Microscopial Society; and a member
of many other societies. He has received number of awards, among
them Benedetti-Pichler (1970), Ernst Abbe (1977), Anachem (1981),
Criminalist of the Year (1985), and Selikoff (1988).
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November 14, 2000
Speaker: Dr. Robert Baier
Title: Disinfecting Polluted Air by UVA/TIO2 Photocatalysis
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The Esselen Award for Chemistry in the public interest is one of the most prestigious honors provided by the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society. The award annually recognizes a chemist whose scientific and technical work has contributed to the public well-being, and has thereby communicated positive values of the chemical profession. The Awardee should be a living resident of the United States or Canada at the time of nomination, and the significance of this work should have become apparent within the five years preceding nomination.
The Esselen Award has no limitations with respect to the chemical field in which the nominees are active. Since its inception the following awards have been given:
1987: F. Sherwood, Rowland University of California at Irvine, and Mario L. Molina, now at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Discovery of the Influence of Chlorofluorocarbons on the Ozone Layer.
1988: Alfred P. Wolf and Joanna S. Fowler, Brookhaven National Laboratories. Chemical Procedures to Make Positron Emission Tomography a Practical Method in Medical Diagnosis.
1989: Carl Djerassi, Stanford University. Synthesis and Promotion of the First and Most Common Birth Control Hormone.
1990: Thomas J. Dougherty, Roswell Park Cancer Institute. The Development of Photodynamic Therapy for the Treatment of Malignant Disease.
1991: Jerrold Meinwald and Thomas Eisner, Cornell University. Chemical Responses in The Insect and Plant World.
1992: Bruce N. Ames, University of California at Berkeley. Methods for Detection of Carcinogens and Causes of Aging and Cancer.
1993: James G. Anderson, Harvard University. Experimental Methods for Measuring Global Ozone Loss.
1994: Kary B. Mullis. The Discovey of Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCR) for the Replication of DNA Molecules.
1995: Howard J. Schaeffer, Burroughs Wellcome Company. Nucleosides with Antiviral Activity - The Discovery of Acyclovir (Zovirax*).
1996: Roy G. Gordon, Harvard University. Low Emissivity Glass; Energy Conserving Windows.
1997: Rangaswamy Srinivasan, UVTech Associates. The Widely Used Laser Methodology of Tiny Focused Ablative Photo Decomposition.
1998: Kyriacos C. Nicolau, Scripps Research Institute. Chemical Synthesis and Chemical Biology of Natural Substances.
1999: Robert S. Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Development of Unique Polymers for Medical Applications.
2000: William A. Pryor, Louisiana State University. Vitamin E and the Prevention of Heart Disease.
THE AWARD CONSISTS OF A MEDAL AND A CHECK FOR $5,000. Travel expenses incidental to the conferring of this award will be reimbursed. The award will usually be held in Cambridge, Massachusetts at the April meeting of the Northeastern Section. The Awardee will deliver an address on the subject of the work for which the honor is being conferred, or for work in progress which is also directed to chemistry in the public interest.
TO NOMINATE a candidate please provide statements from two co-sponsors as well as a brief biography of the candidate, a description of the work which has been recognized as communicating the positive values of the chemistry profession, and copies of selected, pertinent articles, popular news, and feature articles should be included as an indication of public interest. Nominations and inquiries should be directed to Dr. Iclal S. Hartman, c/o Karen Piper, 19 Mill Road, Harvard, MA 01451. NOMINATIONS SHOULD BE POSTED NO LATER THAN OCTOBER 16, 2000. Joint nominations are acceptable. The Committee will review the nominations and the award recipient will be notified by the first of February.
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Have you been asked by your child's teacher to come visit the class and do some hands-on chemistry? Would you like to organize a group of volunteers from your workplace and form a partnership with a local school in order to supplement their science curriculum? The Kids & Chemistry program of the ACS Education and International Activities Division offers workshops and resources to assist volunteer scientists interested in doing hands-on science activities with elementary school children. Workshops are offered at ACS national and regional meetings and local sections, by request. Upcoming workshops include:
•October 28, 2000 Puerto Rico Local Section, San Juan
•November 11, 2000 Pittsburgh Local Section, Pittsburgh
•December 8, 2000 ACS Southeast/Southwest Regional Meeting, New Orleans
If you would like to attend one of these workshops or it you would like more information about the Kids & Chemistry program write to kids@acs.org or call
1-800-227-5558, ext. 6249.
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The Office of Community Activities (OCA) of the American Chemical Society (ACS) has been working with Barbara Roberts, staff member in the Science and Technology Division of the Martin Luther King Memorial Library to find connections between chemistry and materials available at the library. The ACS national meeting held in Washington, D.C. on August the 11th featured a book display with resources for National Chemistry Week (NCW). NCW 2000 will take place November 5-11, with the theme “Kitchen Chemistry.” The books on the display included not only standard cookbooks but also children's books with a link to cooking or food. A bibliography was compiled and made available to patrons of the library and to ACS members during the meeting. The staff of the Office of Community Activities also arranged a display case at the library that highlighted programs of ACS. All of this is a part of the Chemists in the Library program, a new community offering from OCA. For more information about National Chemistry Week, contact OCA at 202-872-6097 or email ncw@acs.org
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According to a newly released survey of ACS members, “Lifetimes in Chemistry A Report on the American Chemical Society's Mature Career Chemist Study of Members Ages 50 Through 69,” nearly three times as many women as men took a career hiatus of at least six months and for different reasons. The study said women most often reported the hiatus was for “family responsibilities,” while men said they were “involuntarily terminated.” Women also said the hiatus hurt their career while most men said it helped their career. To receive a free copy of the full report, please call ACS at
800-227-5558 or email career@acs.org
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Finding the position that is right for you has just gotten easier. The Chemical & Engineering News' online employment classifieds page has an exciting new look that is faster to navigate. Just log on to C&EN Online at http://pubs.acs.org/cen and click on ACS Job Bank at the top of the home page. At the heart of the new website are the most recent listings from C&EN print classified ads as well as access to the ACS Career Services Professional Data Bank. The page also features free career articles from the magazine on topics ranging from salaries to starting your new laboratory. There are links for both job seekers and employers looking to match talented chemists with their dream jobs. Searching the classifieds is free to all ACS members.
Success is not measured by height attained, but by obstacles overcome.
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http://www.facstaff.buchnell.edu/casteel/chem212/songs/
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If personal computers are so smart, how come they're the only appliance in our house that requires 24-hour technical support?
Randy Glasbergen, Cartoonist
Nothing is Impossible. Some things are just less likely than others.
Jonathan Winters, Comedian
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Winner: Western New York
Dear Dr. Schreiner,
I just received an American Chemical Society letter from Mr. Daryle H. Busch, informing me that Niagara University's ACS Student Affiliates Chapter has been selected to receive an Honorable Mention for its chapter award activities during the 1999-2000 Academic Year. Congratulations to you and to your Colleagues in the Department of Chemistry for your outstanding work with our students. Dr. Busch was careful to note that such an honor takes the special, nurturing attention of a dedicated advisor, so I congratulate you, Dr. Schreiner, and thank for such outstanding dedication. Please extend my sincerest congratulations to our students who have been so honored. You all make Niagara University very proud of you, and, in particular, as President, I want to thank you in the name of the University Community for your outstanding scholarship and accomplishment. I have forwarded a copy of Dr. Busch's letter to Dr. Mason and Dr. McGlen and I am sure that they are most proud of you as well. I wish you well for the future work and honors you will achieve. God bless you all.
Sincerely,
Joseph L. Levesque, C.M.
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Winner: Western New York Phoenix Awards for 1999
Winner: Western New York
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Summer Edition July 28; deadline July 12
Publication Date (1st Friday) Deadline (1st of
Prev.Month)
September 8, 2000 October 6, 2000 November 3, 2000 December 1, 2000 January 5, 2001 February 2, 2001 March 2, 2001 April 6, 2001 May 4, 2001 June 1, 2001 Summer Edition July 27, 2001 |
August 1, 2000 September 1, 2000 October 1, 2000 November 1, 2000 December 1, 2000 January 1, 2001 February 1, 2001 March 1, 2001 April 1, 2001 May 1, 2001 June 29, 2001 |
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If you are planning to attend, you must call Karen Arnold @ 884-5894 to reserve your spot.
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If you would be interested in serving as a co-chairman of the
Senior Chemists please contact
Dr. Joseph F. Bieron @ 888-2357
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The American Chemical Society (ACS) Committee on Patents and Related Matters (CP&RM) invites you to make suggestions to the Committee on possible candidates for induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. The inventor is not required to be a U.S. citizen, but the invention upon which the nomination is based must be covered by a U.S. patent. The Invention must have contributed greatly to the national welfare and significantly promoted progress in science and the useful arts. Nomination documents are available at http://www.invent.org.
CP&RM also prepares ACS nominations for the National Medal of Technology. Administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the National Medal of Technology is awarded to U.S. owned companies and U.S. citizens for innovation and the advancement of the nation's global competitiveness through the commercialization of technology, the creation of jobs, or improved productivity. Information about the criteria and nomination forms for the Medal are available at http://www.ta.doc.gov/Medal. If you would like to make a recommendation for consideration as an ACS nominee for these prestigious awards, please forward nomination materials the CP&RM staff liaison, Debbie Fillinich, American Chemical Society, 155 Sixteenth Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20038, call 202-872-4476, or email d_fillinich@acs.org. Nominations are due on March 1.
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December 6-8, 2000
Hyatt Regency New Orleans, New Orleans, LA
Sponsoring Local Section: Louisiana
General Chair: Armand Pepperman
SRCC, USDA-ARS
1100 Robert E Lee Blvd,
New Orleans, LA 70179
Phone: 504-286-4610 Fax: 504-286-4367
E-mail: abpep@nola.sitc.usda.gov
Plan now to attend the Combined 52nd Southeast/56th Southwest ACS Regional Meeting to be held in New Orleans, at the Hyatt Regency from December 6-8. Complete information, including the full technical program, and registration information, is available on-line at
http://www.acs.org/meetings/regional/calendar.html
For further information, please contact the ACS Office of Regional Meetings at 1-800-227-5558, ext, 6129. We look forward to seeing you in New Orleans in December.
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Through a training session held by the national ACS in late April, our local section has gained some resources regarding career beginnings (for our recent graduates), career development, and career transition. National ACS has provided us with literature on resume building, targeting the job market, and interviewing, as well as several web sites which frequently post scientific employment opportunities. They also have developed several programs which could be of interest to our section, including:
• Employment Outlook, Marketability, and Job Security
• Nine Steps for Career Success
• Strategies for Job & Career Transitioning
• Employment in Small Chemical Companies
• Global Employment
• Employment for Foreign-Born Chemists
• Electronic Job Searching
• “Tell it Well” and “Write it Well”,
two seminars on
effective technical communication
If you have interest in any of the above mentioned literature please contact me. Also, if you have suggestions regarding the type of programming that you would find beneficial, please let me know! We would like to provide programs that are helpful and informative to our members.
Kim Reynolds e-mail: kjr@acsu.buffa1o.edu
or contact Patty at Canisius, phone: 888-2340 or e-mail shelleyp@canisius.edu
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Those chemistry majors receiving a baccalaureate degree and having completed a curriculum described in the ACS Guidelines may be certified to the Society for membership purposes by the head or chair of the chemistry department at the approved institution. We will be happy to send certificates to certified graduates. When you request that we send a certificate, please include the student's current mailing address. If you would like to have certificates available for presentation to your certified graduates, please let us know the number of certificates you would like and the date you need them. Send all requests by mail to the Office of Professional Training, American Chemical Society, 1155 Sixteenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 or by email to cpt@acs.org.
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Millions are reached with information about Chemistry through the Media. The 22nd national meeting of the American Chemical Society served as the backdrop for the first-ever recognition celebration of NEWSMAKER. Hosted by Public Relations and Communications chair, Eleanor Siebert, the event honors members for their involvement in communicating chemistry to the public.
The individuals recognized help the ACS Office of Communications staff to participate in news conferences and media interviews, prepare news releases about new chemistry research, and serve as an important source of information for reporters around the world. Several members received recognition for generating media coverage to the widest audience. Recipients included: John Zogorski, U.S. Geologic Survey; Joel Coats and Chris Peterson, Iowa State University; Alexander Scheeline, University of Illinois; Amy Trainor, ACS Medicinal Chemistry Division; and William H. Glaze, editor, Environmental Science and Technology.
Together, their efforts have helped ACS to reach a potential audience of nearly 96 million people through news coverage.
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ACS President Daryle Busch hosted a live debate via webcast entitled, “Online Preprints: Implications for Chemistry,” at last month's national meeting. Digital preprints are research articles available on a free and unrestricted basis online. Whether the chemistry community should embrace a preprint server as a means of communicating chemistry is controversial, with a myriad of perspectives. The panelists and audience members alike expressed many of these views during the webcast.
For a print synopsis of the webcast, go to the ACS Website http://www.acs.org. Look under “Featured This Week and click on Webcast.” To view the actual webcast in its entirety click on “The archived version of the Webcast is available for viewing.” The webcast will be available for viewing through December 31, 2000.
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Once again the Eli Lilly & Company is sponsoring a program to provide funding for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral women chemists to travel to scientific meetings in 2001 to present the results of their research. Awards will be granted to women presenting research for the first time at a national or major meeting. Grants may be applied only for registration, travel, and accommodations, and are restricted to travel to meetings within the United States. Grant funds are limited, but there are some funds set aside for undergraduates. Only U. S. citizens and permanent residents are eligible. Applications should be limited to one per research group. Women who have received a prior award under this program are ineligible.
The deadline dates for receipt of applications for 2001 meetings are as follows:
Sept 15, 2000 - Meetings between January 1 and June 30, 2001
Feb. 15, 2001 - Meetings between July 1 and December 31, 2001
In order to apply for the award, please submit the following:
1. A resume (include permanent address).
2. A completed official application form that you must obtain from your department chair, or may download from http://www.membership.acs.org/w/wcc. The application form is also available from the WCC Staff Liaison at the American Chemical Society. (See address below or call 800/227-5558, Ext.6022; e-mail: c_brown@acs.org)
3. An abstract of the work which you have submitted for presentation, using an official meeting abstract form. A printed copy of an online abstract submission is also acceptable. If not on the official meeting abstract form, reason must be stated on the application form.
4. A letter detailing the reasons you want this award (both scientific and financial), and specifying whether you have made a previous presentation at a national or major meeting.
5. A letter from your advisor confirming your participation in the meeting at which you will be making your presentation, commenting on your technical ability and potential, and listing any other travel support that would be available from the department or research grants.
Awards will be made based both on scientific merit and financial need, with the WCC Membership Awards Subcommittee serving as the selection jury. Through this program, the Eli Lilly & Company continues to increase the participation of women in the chemical sciences. Please send your application to: Ms. Cheryl H. Brown, Women Chemists Committee, American Chemical Society, 1155 16th Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. 20036.
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Canisius College Press
Phone: 716-888-3254
FAX: 716-888-3112
E-Mail bieron@canisius.edu
Website: www.canisius.edu/historyproject
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Contact Patty at Canisius College
716-888-2340 or via email at shelleyp@canisius.edu
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Thomas E. Ohnmeiss
Internet Web Site Development
(716) 439-0889
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