Mass spectrometry: Fifth meeting of the Spanish Society of Mass Spectrometry (SEEM)

Keeping its biannual pattern, the Spanish Society of Mass Spectrometry (SEEM) celebrated its fifth meeting in the town of Malaga, capital of the Sunny Coast, from 11 to 14 April 2011. If the classic sentence “the ghosts of the past survive in the uncertainty of your future” applies in many vital situations, when it comes to organizing a scientific meeting, the success of previous meetings is a heavy load hanging around the organizer’s neck. For this particular conference, the outstanding organization and excellence of the work reported at previous meetings (Madrid 2002, Barcelona 2004, Oviedo 2006, and Castellon 2009) were additional weights to the difficult enterprise of fulfilling expectations. Luckily, the gracious advice of the Board of Directors of SEEM, the impressive work of the secretary and vicepresident of the organizing committee (Helena Tellez-Lozano and Alegria Carrasco-Pancorbo), and the excellent logistic support of Proyectos, Incentivos y Congresos were key factors in the final success of the meeting. Despite its youth (SEEM was officially established in 2000 during the International Mass Spectrometry Conference organized by Emilio Gelpi in Barcelona) and the dissemination of the mass spectrometrists community in Spain among diverse scientific societies (Society of Chromatography and Related Techniques; Spanish Society of Analytical Chemistry, Society of Applied Spectroscopy, Society of Proteomics, and the Royal Society of Chemistry), the conference has grown significantly in delegates (from academia, public/private laboratories, and instrumentation companies) and currently has a national reputation as the meeting point of mass spectrometry in Spain to foster discussions, exchange experience, and improve knowledge with colleagues that share a common interest in the crazy idea of chasing ions in the gas phase. In this direction, most important were the efforts that SEEM made in helping young researchers to attend the meeting at zero cost in the belief that the mutual interaction of seniors and juniors is the only way to provide the relaxing and potential-free surface where the spark of science begins. The conference was attended by more than 150 scientists, including about 50 young researchers (Ph.D. students and postdoctoral researchers). The scientific program was opened on the evening of April 11th with a single plenary lecture given by Professor Maria Teresa Galceran (Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain), one of the most relevant scientists in Spain, on the use of mass spectrometry in analytical chemistry. Her talk, entitled “LC–MS tools for environmental and food analysis” provided a beautiful view (with many surprising examples) of the power of LC–MS in the complex context of food and environmental analysis. After her captivating talk, the attendees had the chance to enjoy an open-air mixing party under a beautiful and cloudless sky and a warm temperature. The conference continued for two and a half days with three more exceptional plenary speakers. Akos Vertes (George Washington University, USA) shared with us the exciting world of mass spectrometry of cells and tissues by the combination of tuneable mid-infrared lasers for spatially localized sampling followed by atmospheric-pressure ionization mass spectrometry. Olev Mayboroda (Leiden University Medical Centre, the Netherlands) with an intriguing title for his talk (Metabollomics: the art of possible), took J. M. Vadillo Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Malaga, 29071 Malaga, Spain