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From the President's Desk

Ward Swanson

I would just like to thank you (the members) for the opportunity to lead the organization for the last 11 months. Overall, it has been a rewarding experience with a bit of fun mixed in. I doubt I will go down as the greatest President in MCF history, but I like to think I am leaving the top spot a little different (if not better) then when I first arrived.

My job was made volumes easier by the staff of volunteers that really keep the MCF moving forward and I would like to thank them all for making me look so good. It is amazing the amount of work that can get done when you have a group of over achievers working for you. I believe they are truly a group apart.

They some how find instructors and speakers and venues to hold our gatherings. Newsletters magically find their way to my door, and food seems to just appear out of nowhere. The books get balanced, the taxes get paid, the website gets updated, and the paperwork is tracked and completed. Registrations are collected, bills are paid, and the membership list is updated. Undergraduate and Palmer award candidates are evaluated, and ballots are created. Don’t get me started on the detail necessary to hold the Symposium together. For all this work, they don’t receive any money; they only do it for the GLORY!

As much as they deserve individual mention, I will save that for May.

Thanks again! See you all in a few weeks.

2002 Winter Quarterly Meeting Report

Paul T. Jackson, Director

On February 5, the MCF hosted Dr. Mark Hayes of Arizona State University as the quarterly meeting speaker. The importance of the interfacial processes to chemical separations was the main talking point of the evening’s presentation. Control over separations, whatever the application, will increase when control over the interfacial aspects of the processes improves. To frame a context for the evening, Dr. Hayes reiterated the importance of control over interfacial phenomenon to the work of bioanalytical chemists; the small analysis volumes challenge the time scale, sensitivity, and resolution capabilities of the separations method.

Since electrophoresis is a great way to move small amounts of fluids, the body of the presentation described the experimental electrophoretic systems used to explore the physical phenomena occurring at the wall-solution interface in microfluidic devices. At the outset, the work of Paul, et.al (Anal. Chem.1998, 70, 2459-2467), reminded the audience about the differences in flow profiles between pressure and electrokinetically driven fluids. Out of this grew the question as to how best to exert control over electroosmosis. Various approaches were taken: 1) apply a 2^nd voltage across the wall (radial voltage field); 2) modify wall surface with a primer coat of TiO2 followed by tert-butyldiphenyl silane or other bulky silane; and 3) modify the wall surface with a photoactive molecule, based on spiropyrans, that allows conformational and ionic changes to occur at the wall with exposure to UV or visible radiation. Each system had substantive advantages and disadvantages to movement of fluids with biological analytes. The evening’s talk ended with a few applications of microfluidics. One such application was the design of a microfluidic Weir channel system that would take whole blood and separate the plasma via energy supplied by capillary action.

Are We There Yet?

Ravi Ravichandran

Another year for MCF has come and gone by – I mean 2001-2002.  The Spring Symposium is right around the corner – although we do not see real Spring season in Minnesota yet! You will see the tentative technical program in this issue. The Symposium Committee has put together a fantastic program. . I hope all of you are planning to attend the Spring Symposium and make it grand success. While you are at the Symposium please fill out the survey which will help us understand your needs and interests.

2002 Spring Symposium Program