It is a great honor and pleasure to welcome you to Hollywood, FL, U.S.A., to participate in the Seventeen Latin-American Symposium on Biomedical, Biopharmaceutical, and Industrial Applications of Capillary Electrophoresis and Microchip Technology. First, I must express my appreciation to the Scientific and Organizing Committee and to the institutions and companies whose contributions will help to make this event both successful and scientifically rewarding.
LACE (Latin American Capillary Electrophoresis) was created sixteen years ago to keep Latin American scientists abreast of the latest advances in technology for microseparations, specifically capillary electrophoresis and microchip technology. The objectives of the symposium are to foster the development of applications in areas that directly benefit local needs, to encourage the formation of personal worldwide networks to share information relating to these innovative technologies, and to provide opportunities for students to participate in this dramatic transition to a world in which we can study miniaturized chemical and biochemical interactions and separations. For the past seventeen years, LACE has been held mainly in the countries of Latin America, but the symposium series has benefited from the interest and support of many prestigious experts in CE from the U.S.A., Japan, Spain, and other European countries. Many of these experts participate every year in these annual meetings endowing the conference with a truly international perspective. In 2004 and in 2009, for example, LACE was celebrated in Toledo and Seville, Spain, respectively attracting conferees from Spain, other European countries, Russia, Japan, and Latin America.
Capillary electrophoresis and microchip technology are considered part of micro and nanotechnologies. The intersection of diverse fields such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computer Science and Engineering, is enabling micro and nanotechnology to grow rapidly. Termed as a revolution, microtechnology and nanotechnology are likely to change the world, as it exists today. In this year’s symposium, the members of the Scientific and Organizing Committee have organized a truly comprehensive program covering many different areas of application of miniaturized techniques in the hope that the presentations will provide the delegates with insight into the power and scope of these new analytical methodologies. Finally, we wish to thank all local and foreign speakers for their participation in LACE 2010, and we look forward not only to their presentations, but also to the discussions and exchanges of information facilitated by the symposium. Based on past experience, our discussions, both formal and informal, will certainly be an important part of the proceedings because the cordial atmosphere at LACE encourages interaction among all participants. The Scientific and Organizing Committee sincerely hopes that all aspects of the conference, the scientific sessions, the discussions, the pre-symposium course, and instrumentation exhibition, will serve their intended purposes to advance the science of microseparations and foster scientific contacts between scientists in Latin America and their peers in other parts of the world.
It is my sincere wish that your experience this year in Hollywood will be both enjoyable and professionally rewarding.
Sincerely,
Norberto A. Guzman, Ph.D.
Founder and Emeritus Chair of LACE