NIST scientists receives ABC Best Paper Award 2013 from Springer

The Springer journal Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry (ABC) has chosen Sherrie Elzey (32) and De-Hao Tsai (37) as the recipients of its Best Paper Award 2013. Elzey and Tsai are lead authors of a paper published in ABC which presents the development of a method to simultaneously characterize the size and elemental composition of nanoparticles, especially those used for nano therapeutics. The award, accompanied by 1,500 euros, was created by Springer to honor exceptional young scientists and to stimulate their research careers. The ABC Best Paper Award has been given since 2005.

Elzey and Tsai, working in the Materials Measurement Laboratory at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD, demonstrate a proof-of-concept for a measurement method that determines the elemental composition of size-separated particles, thereby providing both size and chemical information from a single hyphenated system. This analytical approach is broadly applicable to both chemical and biochemical research, as well as product development, for example consumer products, biomedical and diagnostic devices, and nanocoatings.

Prof. Alfredo Sanz-Medel, Editor of ABC, said, "The design and development of a novel hybrid instrument is described in the worthy paper ABC has chosen as the winner. The instrument presents a creative alternative to the limited number of available hybrid tools to fully characterize aqueous colloidal nanoparticles. The high analytical potential of the synergic coupling described by Elzey and Tsai will undoubtedly spur new nanotechnological applications and developments in the most varied fields where nanoparticle use is now booming."

Sherrie Elzey earned her Ph.D. at the University of Iowa. After postdoctoral research at NIST, Elzey joined TSI Incorporated in Shoreview, MN, as an applications engineer. De-Hao Tsai received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland and subsequently carried out research at Cabot Microelectronics Corporation in Aurora, IL, before going to NIST. He is currently assistant professor in the department of chemical engineering at National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan.