ALA announces winner of LabAutomation2009 Innovation Award.

Press Release Summary:



Each year, ALA Innovation Award recognizes that year's top 10 finalists who present innovative laboratory technologies or new, highly useful technology advances and applications as podium presentations. Winner of LabAutomation2009 $10,000 ALA Innovation Award was Hyongsok Soh, Ph.D., University of California, who was honored for his podium presentation, High Performance Magnetic Separation in Microfluidic Channels.



Original Press Release:



Innovation and Achievement Abound at LabAutomation2009



CHICAGO - The Association for Laboratory Automation (ALA), a multi-disciplinary, non-profit scientific association spanning diverse industries and technology sectors, has announced the winner of the LabAutomation2009 $10,000 ALA Innovation Award. Hyongsok (Tom) Soh, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, was honored for his podium presentation, High Performance Magnetic Separation in Microfluidic Channels.

The winner was announced during the closing plenary session at LabAutomation2009, the world's leading conference and exhibition on emerging laboratory technologies. The conference, which was held January 24-28, 2009 at the Palm Springs Convention Center, Palm Springs, CA, played host to 4,237 participants from around the world.

Each year the ALA Innovation Award recognizes that year's top ten finalists who present innovative laboratory technologies or new, highly usefus technology advances and applications as podium presentations. Those presentations demonstrating extraordinary vision, originality, seminal technology, applications and strategies
qualify for the award.

"The competition was tough and we were very pleased with the variety and quality of submissions for this year's award," said ALA Innovation Award Chair William Sonnefeld, Ph.D. "All of the presentations by the 10 finalists were outstanding, but it was Doctor Soh's presentation that stood out above the rest. The decision was difficult, but the panel felt that his presentation in particular deserved the award. The ALA Innovation Award was specifically created to recognize this type of leading-edge work and the outstanding scientist behind it. It's exciting that we have so many finalists worthy of this designation."

"This year's 10 finalists are truly all winners," continued Sonnefeld. "Each of them has been invited to present their work at ACHEMA 2009 in Frankfurt, Germany. Their travel expenses will be paid by ALA and DECHEMA."

Now in its third year, ALA's New Product Award (NPA) Designation recognized the top three outstanding new products showcased on the LabAutomation2009 exhibit floor. This year's winners were:

o Agilent Technologies - Agilent Direct Drive Robot

o GeneFluidics - PROTEUS ROBOTIC SYSTEM

o METTLER TOLEDO - QUANTOS QB1

Along with the ALA Innovation Award and ALA New Product Award (NPA) Designation, ALA selected a limited number of student posters from around the world to be presented at the conference and considered for the Student Poster Awards Competition, which result in cash awards. LabAutomation2009 student poster winners were:

o 1st Place - Vinu Venkatraman, Portland State University

"Iridium Oxide Nanomonitors for Real-Time Health Monitoring Systems"

o 2nd Place- Raghunandan M. Kainkaryam, University of Michigan

"poolMC: Smart Pooling of mRNA Samples in Microarray Experiments"

o 3rd Place - Nicholas G. Batz, Saint Louis University

"Selective Detection of Endogenous Thiols Using Microchip-Based Flow Analysis and Mercury/Gold Amalgams Microelectrodes"

For more information on ALA's LabAutomation2009 conference, visit labautomation.org/LA09, or call 888.733.1ALA (1252).

Lab automation professionals are already looking forward to LabAutomation2010 in Palm Springs, January 23-27, 2010. The plenary series headlining the event will be R. Graham Cooks, Henry B. Haas Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry, Purdue University; Hod Lipson, Associate Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University; and R. Bruce Sterling, American Science Fiction Novelist, Former Twilight Zone writer/actor, columnist for WIRED and MAKE magazine, design critic and selfproclaimed blogger.

For more information on LabAutomation2009, visit labautomation.org/LA09 or call 888.733.1ALA (1252).

The Association for Laboratory Automation (ALA) is a worldwide organization representing leaders in all aspects of laboratory automation. ALA seeks to provide a greater understanding of the importance and value of automation technologies in laboratory settings, to advance science and promote education related to laboratory automation by encouraging the study, advancing the science and improving the practice of medical and laboratory automation.

LabAutomation2010, January 23-27, Palm Springs Convention Center, is a five-day event bringing together laboratory automation business leaders and scientists from around the globe in conjunction with the world's largest exhibition of laboratory technologies.

ALA thanks Agilent Technologies for their premier sponsorship contribution to LabAutomation2009 and for their commitment to ALA through their Premier Sponsorship of LabAutomation2010.

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