Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, in the promotion of analytical science, has, since 1988, donated the HEINRICHEMANUEL-MERCK AWARD FOR ANALYTICAL SCIENCE – worth Euro 15,000.
The prize was donated to mark the centenary of the first standardization of analytical methods brought about by Merck chemist Dr. Karl Krauch in his book “The Testing of the Purity of Chemical Reagents”. The award bears the name of Heinrich Emanuel Merck, who defined the company’s commitment to quality by the claim “I shall always guarantee the purity of my preparations”.
The award is intended for chemists up to the age of 45, working in particular on developing new analytical methods and their applications in areas of human interest. Their work should be directed towards the improvement of our conditions of life, providing solutions to analytical problems in the areas of life sciences, material sciences or environment.
The prize will be awarded for the 12th time at a special award ceremony at the EuroAnalysis2015 Conference in Bordeaux, France, September 6 -10, 2015. to:
Prof. Dr. Petra S. Dittrich
"Small chambers for high sensitivity analyses: New perspectives for single cell proteomics and metabolomics"
Petra Dittrich is Associate Professor for Bioanalytics at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) since 2014. Her research in the field of lab-on-chip-technologies focuses on the miniaturization of high-sensitivity devices for chemical and biological analyses, and microfluidic-aided organization of materials.
Born in 1974 in Lingen/Ems(Germany), she studied chemistry at Bielefeld University (Germany) and Universidad de Salamanca (Spain) from 1993 to 1999. She earned her PhD degree at the Max Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (MPI Göttingen, Germany) in 2003 for her thesis on fluorescence correlation spectroscopy in microfluidic channels. After another year as postdoctoral fellow at the MPI Göttingen, she had a postdoctoral appointment at the Institute for Analytical Sciences (ISAS Dortmund, Germany) (2004-2008). For research stays, she was at the Cornell University (2002) and the University of Tokyo (2005). In 2008, she became Assistant Professor at the Organic Chemistry Laboratories of the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences (ETH Zurich).
Petra Dittrich was fellow of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, the German Exchange Organization DAAD and the Christiane Nüsslein-Vollhard-foundation. Her PhD was was awarded by the Westfälisch-Lippische Universitätsgesellschaft. In 2008 she received the Starting Grant from the European Research Commission (ERC) and in 2010, the Analytica Forschungspreis of the German Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM), donated by Roche Diagnostics GmbH.
Some indication of the recognition the prize has meanwhile achieved in the world of chemical analysisis documented, apart from the excellent qualifications of the jury itself, by the list of previous award winners:
2012 - Prof. A. R. Wheeler, Canada
2010 - Profa. L. Torsi, Italy
2007 - Dr. A. Makarov, Germany; Prof. S. Nie, USA
2004 - Prof. Y. Baba, Japan
2002 - Prof. J. V. Sweedler, USA
2000 - Prof. N. Dovichi, Canada
1998 - Prof. R. Zenobi, Switzerland
1996 - Prof. D.J. Harrison, Canada; Prof. A. Manz, Great Britain
1993 - Prof. A. Amirav, Israel
1990 - Dr. B. Bidlingmeyer, USA; Prof. R. Niessner, Germany
1988 - Prof. M. Hiraide, Japan; Prof. O.S. Wolfbeis, Austria
http://www.euroanalysis2015.com/spip.php?rubrique37