Editorial – Analyst's special focus on Emerging Investigators

It is a pleasure to present this issue of Analyst which highlights the work of emerging investigators in the area of analytical science. We felt honoured to be asked to help compile this themed issue, and it has been very rewarding to read through the papers – we’ve learned a lot! This issue contains 20 papers, including 2 Minireviews, and the range of topics is impressive and exciting. We have deliberately chosen papers from excellent young research groups established only in the last few years, and as a result this edition contains some nicely honed, original ideas from new investigators that promise much for the future of analytical science.

Helen Cooper’s Minireview (DOI: 10.1039/c0an01011a) is comprehensive in its consideration of different dissociation techniques for use in mass spectrometry-based proteomics. Lane Baker’s Minireview (DOI: 10.1039/c0an00871k) gives fantastic insight into the use of biologically modified hydrogels in chemical and biochemical analysis, providing an excellent introduction to the topic that focuses on the incorporation of peptides and nucleic acids.

The original research papers cover several recently developed techniques including biospray of functional spleen cells, paving the way for biospray use in therapeutic and regenerative medicine applications (Jayasinghe, DOI: 10.1039/c1an15154a), the use of travelling wave ion mobility to analyse biomolecular ions (Ruotolo, DOI: 10.1039/c0an00987c), the use of silicon photonic microring resonators for multiplex evaluation of protein capture agents (Bailey, DOI: 10.1039/c0an00853b), the application of Raman tweezers to identify trace contaminants in microdroplets containing inorganic salts (Hudson, DOI: 10.1039/c0an00843e), a wide-field lensless fluorescent microscopy platform that could be a valuable tool for many applications (Ozcan, DOI: 10.1039/c0an00926a), and visible luminescence imaging in tissue following excitation of embedded X-ray-excited rare earth scintillators (Anker, DOI: 10.1039/c0an00931h).

A myriad of targets are analysed in the papers presented, ranging from the nerve cord of a Drosophila melanogaster larva examined using carbon nanotube-modified microelectrodes by Venton and co-workers (DOI: 10.1039/c0an00854k) to the colorants present in house paint and wallpapers from an 18^th century historic property using Raman spectroscopy (Brosseau, DOI: 10.1039/c0an00832j) to high resolution mass spectrometry determination of amphetamine presence in human hair (Miyaguchi, DOI: 10.1039/c0an00850h) to ischemia/reperfusion injury in cardiomyocytes using a low-shear microfluidic platform (Pappas, DOI: 10.1039/c0an00845a).

Another class of papers focus on pushing analytical tools to new limits. For example, Emily Smith (DOI: 10.1039/c0an00851f) covers the nuts and bolts of how to optimise the surface of silver nanoparticles for surface-enhanced Raman scattering analysis of a range of structurally diverse analytes, and in another use of particles with spectroscopy, single particle tracking is used to distinguish differences in highly localised proteins (Payne, DOI: 10.1039/c0an00855a). Haes (DOI: 10.1039/c1an15185a) also makes use of nanoparticles, in this case to improve capillary electrophoretic separation of small molecule biomarkers. With a specific interest into the broadly important sensing target H₂O₂, Sombers (DOI: 10.1039/c1an15337d) evaluates multiple microelectrode formats to identify the one that gives optimal detection of rapid H₂O₂ fluctuations. Easley (DOI: 10.1039/c0an00842g) reports the development and use of automated microchip electrophoresis to measure the binding of DNA aptamers against peptides and small proteins while Llobera (DOI: 10.1039/c0an00941e) explores how chemical functionalization of microfluidic channels influence device modification with biosensing receptors, exploring both physical and covalent modification schemes.

The reach of analytical science is exemplified in this issue, and we are proud to publish alongside the fine papers from these emerging research groups. We look forward to the next developments from the investigators contained in this special issue of the Analyst – they are the ones to watch.

Perdita Barran, University of Edinburgh, UK

Christy Haynes, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

---