In this interview, News-Medical speaks with Maria Jazmin Silvero Compagnucci from the University of Ottawa about how microplastics and bacteria interact. She discusses why the literature has been mixed so far, what her group has observed when bacteria grow with common plastics over time, and why using more realistic microplastic particles matters for lab studies. Pittcon puts a lot of focus on supporting early-career researchers. What first drew you to science, and when did you realize you wanted to pursue it as a career? I recently remembered this memory from the back of my mind. My mom is a doctor, a pediatrician, and she had this poster in her consulting room with cartoons of bacteria and parasites. She called them bugs, little bugs, and that I had to be aware of them and wash my hands. I think I was probably four, and I was surprised that these tiny things could have such an effect on us. I think that caught my attention very early in my life. I was always curious. I’m prone to science. However, I didn’t even hear the word “research” until, I think, my second year of undergrad school, and it was thanks to this professor...

“I like attending all of the student sessions and the talks mainly. A lot of the talks that go on are from PhD students, people at the same point in their journey as me or starting out. It’s good to be able to connect with people of the same age and people doing similar topics to you,” Chloe Miller, PhD student from the University of Brighton, UK, told IFLScience during Pittcon 2026 in San Antonio, Texas. When asked what she believes is the most significant thing Pittcon offers, Miller had a clear message: “It’s being able to meet new people and take some time to be able to talk to them, to work out things in grant proposals and put them together, and actually start interdisciplinary work across the world and not just UK-based.” <span class="fr-mk" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span> Pittcon is not just for students. Helen Evans-Lemmo, an instrumentation specialist from Ego Pharmaceuticals, arrived at her first-ever Pittcon in 2020 in Chicago. She had traveled all the way from Melbourne, Australia, and while extremely jet-lagged and wandering around the floor of Pittcon, she saw a booth with sample preparation robots. What initially caught her eye was some koala toys they had...

For over 75 years, Pittcon has been at the cutting edge of industry-defining changes, and next year it returns home for the first time in six decades.

For over 75 years, Pittcon has been at the cutting edge of industry-defining changes, and next year it returns home for the first time in six decades.

Conferences have long been an important part of the scientific landscape. They allow researchers to demonstrate their work, network with peers and other experts, and get feedback on specific problems. If nothing else, conferences can offer insights into important developments within the field. But as conferences have become more common, they are often moving online, into digital spaces. There is, however, one annual conference that has resisted this trend. For over 75 years, Pittcon, North America’s largest laboratory science conference and exposition, has offered scientists and industry leaders a forum to address the persistent critical question: how do laboratories navigate the changes that shape practical science? This has become increasingly pertinent at a time when artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainability goals require new approaches to practice. Pittcon has demonstrated that it remains a vital space, bridging the gap between digital innovation and the realities of laboratory research. In particular, it offers face-to-face collaboration between scientists and the engineers behind the latest instruments. Pittcon is a nonprofit that puts the majority of its revenue into funding local groups and supporting science education and outreach. It is also an ideal space for students and early-career scientists to meet their peers, gain career...

The I.M. Kolthoff Award is given annually to deserving undergraduates who have done undergraduate research in the field of analytical chemistry, broadly defined, in celebration of the life and acco…

Professor Peter H. Seeberger, Professor Andreas Seidel-Morgenstern and their team are successful in producing a low-cost but highly effective medication for malaria from plant waste material. For their findings, they received the $25,000 award “Humanity in Science” during Pittcon 2015 in New Orleans.

In this interview conducted at Pittcon 2024 in San Diego, we spoke to Richard Crocombe about his journey in the field of spectroscopy, focusing on the development of portable spectrometers and their transformative potential in wearable health and fitness…