The Winners of BMG LABTECH's SPECTROstar Nano Competition

BMG LABTECH would like to thank everyone that participated in this competition and congratulate all of the winners and the runners up for their great proposals and innovative ideas. Due to the wide variety proposals that we received it was very difficult to choose the best. The proposals suggested a multitude of different applications and uses of the SPECTROstar Nano's unique features.

Winners of a FREE SPECTROstar Nano for their lab:

1st Winner:
Gary Spedding (USA) - A Research Proposal for use of a SPECTROstar Nano in the Brewing Analytical Laboratory
Dr. Gary Spedding is the managing owner of the Brewing and Distilling Analytical Services in Lexington Kentucky, USA. He proposes to revamp classic beer analysis techniques like detecting color, polyphenols, tannins, protein and nitrogen content by using the new SPECTROstar Nano.

2nd Winner:
University of Texas at Arlington (USA) - Versatile Application of a SPECTROstar Nano System at U.T. Arlington
They request the placement of a SPECTROstar Nano to develop and advance a myriad of high impact academic research and education initiatives and demonstrate a definite need for the innovative capabilities provided by this instrument in order to advance research in the areas of medicinal, analytical, physical, bioinorganic, and biological chemistry.

3rd Winner:
Rose Cooper (UK) - The effect of honey on wound pathogens: a bid for a free SPECTROstar Nano
"Our research is focused at investigating the mode of action of honey in inhibiting wound pathogens. Starting in 1997, the research was considered by many to be irrelevant. But, since the development of licensed wound care products began in Australia in 1999, honey has been re-introduced into modern medicine. It is now approved for use in Australasia, Europe, Canada and USA, although, many physicians are rather sceptical about using honey on wounds. We aim to explain at a cellular and molecular level how honey inhibits wound pathogens."

4th Winner:
Dr. Marco G. Casteleijn (Finland) - Automated Evaluations of Biologically Inspired Nanoparticles and its Immune Response
"Our facility acts as an incubator to develop novel drug technologies by combining recent advances in biosciences and materials sciences. However, it is a challenge to keep implementing novel techniques for screening and evaluating novel drug formulation and drug delivery. "We would like to thank BMG LABTECH for the opportunity provided."

5th Winner:
Dr. Michael J. Campa (USA) - Investigating the Antimetastatic Activity of an Autoantibody in Lung Cancer Patients
"Hearing I had won the last SPECTROstar Nano to be given away by BMG LABTECH was a huge surprise,” stated Dr. Campa. ”It is indeed a very generous gift and comes at an ideal time. Our laboratory in the Department of Radiology at Duke University Medical Center focuses on the early detection of lung cancer. Our aging plate reader has been locking up recently and most likely won't last much longer. Many of our in vitro assays and quantifications are totally reliant on this plate reader. The SPECTROstar Nano will not only eliminate worries of instrument failure but will allow us to expand into areas of inquiry not possible before."

Runners Up and Honorable Mentions:
As we received so many great research proposals, it was very difficult to choose the five winners. We have also chosen the top 25 proposals to receive an honorable mention and as runners up. Runners up receive a 33% promotional discount on a SPECTROstar Nano.

The following proposals have been chosen as honorable mention or runners up:

• Dr. Patrick K. Arthur, University of Ghana, Africa - Identification of novel anti-infective compounds from wood decaying fungi found in Ghana
  
  
• Sébastien Ballesta,CNRS - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France - Circadian dynamics of the oxytocin system within the primate brain
  
  
• Dr. Belkis Peteira Delgado-Oramas, National Center for Animal and Plant Health, Cuba - Proposal on the use of SPECTROstar Nano for plant protection research
  
  
• Mr. Russell Durrett, New York Synthetic Biology Association, USA - Why NY SynBio Researchers Need Your Spectrophotometer
  
  
• Prof. Bashian Fang, College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, China - Discovery and Modification of Oxidoreductases for Construction of Biosynthetic Molecular Machineries
  
  
• Dr. Joanne Fothergill, University of Liverpool, UK - Cohabitation and Cooperation in a Complex World
  
  
• Dr. Byron Gates, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada - Nanoparticles as a Platform for Controlled Delivery of Therapeutics
  
  
• Dr. Stephanie Greene, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA - Regulation of Development by a microRNA
  
  
• Dr. Sheraz Gul, European ScreeningPort GmbH, Hamburg, Germany - Discovery of Biomarkers for Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
  
  
• Prof Edward Harris, Biochemistry, University of Nebraska, USA - Biochemical Characterization of Receptor‐Heparin interactions
  
  
• Dr. Chris Knight, University of Manchester, UK - Worm spectrometry
  
  
• Dr. Oliver Knox, Scottish Agricultural College, UK - Perfecting the precision of P
  
  
• Andrey Komissarov, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, USA - Evaluation of effects of DNA templates on the reaction of urokinase (uPA) and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) with plasminogen
  
  
• Dr. Hannah Levis, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London, UK - Novel use of SPECTROstar Nano to measure transparency in collagen constructs and human cornea
  
  
• Dr. Stefan Lorkowski, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany - Identification and validation of novel pattern recognition receptors as potential therapeutic targets for treating infectious diseases
  
  
• Chris Lowe, University of Cambridge, UK - Investigation of the Tet Family Dioxygenases and Their Role in Epigenetics.
  
  
• Dr. Stephen McCraith, Really Just Science, Seattle, Washington, USA - SPECTROstar Nano delivers big results for little start-up labs like RJS bio
  
  
• Prof. Boris Minaev, B. Khmelnitsky National University, Ukraine - Fabrication of Gold and Silver Nanoparticles using synthetic Humic Substances as a Reductive and Capping Reagent, Possible Aplications in the Brewing Industry
  
  
• Breno Pannia Espósito, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil - High throughput scanning of metal chelators for neurodegenerative diseases
  
  
• Dr. Candida Perera, Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals, Inc., USA - Broad Use of the SPECTROstar Nano in Anticancer Drug Development
  
  
• Dr. Steven Ripp, Center for Environmental Biology, University of Tennessee, USA - Mastitis in dairy cows – Understanding the epidemiology and pathogenesis of Streptococcus uberis
  
  
• Mr. Steven Trim, Venomtech Limited, Ramsgate, UK - Determination of the clinical relevance and phylogeny of hyaluronidase activity (HAase) in venomous animals.
  
  
• Dr. Cara Westmark, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA - Shaking Up a Cure for Neurogenetic Disorders with the BMG LABTECH SPECTROstar Nano
  
  
• Dr. Cornelia Wiegand, Universitätsklinikum Jena, Germany - High-throughput determination of yeast and dermatophyte species using the SPECTROstar Nano
  
  
• Mr. Jacob Williamson, Colorado School of Mines, USA - An Investigation of the Toxicological Effects of Nanomaterial Exposure and Degradation in the Environment
  
  
• Dr. Michael Zieger, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany - Thrombin generation – risk factor in melanoma patients and implant use
  
  
• Dr. Jing-Jiang Zhou, Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBRSC), UK - Use of SPECTROstar Nanos to examine specific interaction between olfactory proteins and small lipophilic molecules

We would also like to thank all of the entrants that did not receive an honorable mention. There were so many great research proposals and we wish you all the best of luck for your future projects.