Opening TU/e Soft Matter CryoTEM Research Unit
In the morning of Friday the 13th of October 2006 approximately
120 guest arrived in the Helix building of Eindhoven University of
Technology to attend the opening symposium of the Soft Matter CryoTEM
Research Unit.
The symposium was opened by chairman Professor Bert de With (TU/e).
The first scientific lecture was given by Professor Wolfgang Baumeister
(Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany) who spoke
about: "Visual proteomics: Exploring the inner space of cells by Cryo-EM
".
His lecture was followed by the one from Dr. Peter Frederik (University
of Maastricht (UM)) about "Time resolution at the nanoscale - frozen
images of molecules and cells in action".
The view point of FEI on the prospects for the collaboration with TU/e
and UM was given by Rob Fastenau in his lecture "Innovation for
Knowledge".
After the FEI contribution it was time for the official opening ceremony
conducted by the Rector Magnificus from TU/e, Professor Hans van Duijn
and his colleague from University of Maastricht, Professor Gerard Mols.
Professor Mols, escorted by Peter Frederik walked over form the lecture
hall to the microscope laboratory, meanwhile Professor Bert de With
explained to the audience the ins and outs of the rebuilding of the labs
using pictures taken at the construction site.
He explained how after the rebuilding, the equipment was assembled and
how things now were ready even for remote control microscopy. Indeed
from the lecture hall the audience was able to witness how, with the
assistance of Paul Bomans who completed the Maastricht-team, Professor
Mols opened the column valves of the of the Titan.
In turn Professor Van Duijn in the lecture hall increased magnification
and focused the microscope showing the first images by remote control.
After the official opening there was time for lunch and the opportunity
for the audience to visit the TEM laboratory.
In the afternoon we resumed the scientific program with a lecture by
Professor Ishi Talmon (Technion Israel, Haifa, Israel) on " CryoTEM in
the study of Soft matter: the state of the Science".
Followed by the lecture of Dr. Nico Sommerdijk (TU/e) on: "
Polymer aggregate smaller than micelles?".
The session on TEM of the solid state was opened by Dr. Joachim Loos (TU/e)
speaking about: " Nanoscale organization of polymer systems".
The last scientific lecture was from Professor Bernard Lotz (Institute
Charles Sadron, France) about: " The TEM-analysis of the build up and
structure of polymer single crystals".
After the closure of the scientific part of the day Professor Bert de
With took the opportunity to thank some people in person for their
contribution in establishing the unit.
The day was closed by Professor Bert Meijer (TU/e) who spoke as Chairman
of the Council of Chemical Sciences of NWO, The Netherlands Organization
for Scientific Research. But he spoke also as an Eindhoven scientist,
taking this opportunity to share his scientific view on the field while
showing the latest Titan images from his own research.
After which the day was closed with some drinks and of course further
discussions..