An extraordinary scientist for an extraordinary journal

Seven years ago, in an Editorial for the first issue of Lab on a Chip (LOC), Andreas Manz asked a simple question; “What is so special about micro and nano research?”. He then went on to provide us with many answers, including “it's a lot of fun” and “we can obtain 1000 billion times the molecular information we use today at no extra cost, notabene!”. LOC's readers took note, and duly set about the challenging task of miniaturising the chemical and biological sciences. As Chairman of the Editorial Board, Andreas has been a major driving force behind this now flourishing journal. And, as his tenure draws to an end, this is a timely opportunity to salute his remarkable influence on both the Lab on a Chip field and journal.

Plate1 Andreas Manz

Andreas′ creativity is virtually unlimited. While earnest scientists such as ourselves were tinkering at the margins, making small changes to existing ideas or bundling a couple of things together in an effort to make something ‘new’, Andreas was always thinking well and truly outside the box. His ideas have ranged from the relatively sane, e.g. forming plasmas on chips, to the borderline crazy such as performing nuclear reactions in microfluidic environments or using van der Graaff generators as high-voltage power supplies.

Our individual memories of our first encounters with Andreas reveal certain similarities…

Albert: In 1989 I was a postdoctoral fellow at the CSEM in Neuchatel, Switzerland, developing chemical sensor technology. I clearly remember the day when I met an enthusiastic scientist in the elevator, who was interviewing for a post. With just enough time for the briefest of chats, I said: “Are you going to work on chemical sensors, like me?”. “No” the young man replied, “I intend to shrink the entire laboratory onto a miniature chip”. “Hmm, interesting”, I said, while thinking “This man is crazy…that's impossible!” But not, of course, if the person who says it is Andreas Manz. Twenty years later I find myself doing exactly that!

Andrew: I first met Andreas in 1996 on a District Line Tube train in London. As a wide-eyed 25 year old assistant professor, I had just heard Andreas speak at a Research Council meeting. I took my chance to introduce myself and told him I was just starting out on the academic path. His advice was simple, “Always be different! It's much better to do something first than to do it better but second ….and always have fun!”

It will come as no surprise to Andreas’ friends and colleagues that he has lived his entire working life according to the motto “Utile Dulci”. A common sight at almost all microfluidic conferences is Andreas in one of his many classic cars. Whether he uses them to drive the coast road to Key West or to enjoy the curved mountain roads on Corse, he always finds ways to inject a bit of fun into life! A perfect example occurred at the 2005 Gordon Conference on the Physics and Chemistry of Microfluidics. The venerable and ancient setting of Magdalen College Oxford had clearly affected Andreas in mysterious ways, awakening in him a quite unexpected talent… for costume drama. His acclaimed stage debut saw him take the role of a zealous Dr Watson opposite an equally passionate Sherlock Holmes (played by Jan Eijkel). The crime-fighting duo investigated the tragic murder of a nanofluidicist. To solve the case, Holmes and Watson painstakingly re-enacted the final exchange between the lead suspect, a microfluidicist, and the deceased nanofluidicist. The motive soon became clear: with no credible arguments to prove the superiority of micro- over nano-fluidics, the microfluidicist had killed the nanofluidicist in a simple fit of pique….

Plate2 Andreas Manz and Jan Eijkel as Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes at Magdalen College Oxford in 2005

Andreas′ ability to innovate and set the agenda is also clear from his activities in the sporting arena. Whilst attending a program committee meeting for one of the μTAS conferences in Okinawa, he decided there should be a nightly ‘evaluation session’ (‘swim’) in the resort lagoon. Rumour has it that Andreas and a certain Nanofluidics Professor from University of Twente—who had both by now perfected the integration of swimming and drinking in low ambient light conditions—were chased through the darkness by a distressed Japanese security guard, who was alarmed that the resort had been invaded by two large (and hitherto unknown) aquatic mammals.

The first part of this issue comprises perspectives, anecdotes, reviews and papers as a celebration of Andreas′ tenure as the founding Chairman of the LOC Editorial Board. At the turn of the Millennium, Andreas felt there was a serious gap in the market and a genuine need for a new archival journal that would bring together analytical scientists, engineers, physicists and biologists. He quickly realised the importance of an attractive journal full of varied content. The inclusion of Research Highlights, Focus articles and the Chips & Tips forum has helped to create a real sense of community amongst the readers and contributors, whilst always maintaining the very highest standards of peer review. Andreas has formed a close and productive partnership with Harp Minhas and, together, this ‘dream team’ have made LOC the number one choice for leading research in the fields of micro- and nanofluidics.

Although just seven years young, LOC is definitely a part of the academic furniture. It has been a forum for over 1200 scientific articles and is consistently ranked amongst the leading journals in micro- and nano- research. This remarkable achievement is in no small part due to the enthusiasm, drive, vision and passion of its Chairman. We are sure you will agree: Andreas Manz has been an extraordinary scientist for an extraordinary journal!

Albert van den Berg

University of Twente

Andrew deMello

Imperial College London

PS: As a final bit of fun that readers may appreciate, we have had a look at the Andreas Manz academic “family tree” which traces the Manz intellectual line of descent, from student to teacher back through the centuries. In this tree individuals are traced to their PhD advisor. The tree provides an individual's highest degree, the date that this was awarded and the city in which the work was performed. For example, Andreas′ PhD supervisor at ETH was Professor Wilhelm Simon. Simon himself studied under the supervision of Lavoslav Ruzička, the Nobel Prize winning chemist. As can be seen, Andreas′ family tree can be traced back to Pelope the Croatian apothecary who lived in the 15th century. In large part the tree has been created using the Chemical Genealogy Database Homepage.

Plate3 The Andreas Manz “family tree”

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