The 19th International Conference on Near Infrared Spectroscopy (ICNIRS) took place in Gold Cost, Australia from 15th to 20th September, 2019.
The Aquaphotomics session was held on 18th of September, and was chaired by Dr Jill Fernandes from Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland. The session included five speakers who presented their findings on various aquaphotomics-related aspects:
1) Jelena Muncan, Kobe University, Japan: Plant aquaphotomics: New frontiers
2) Roumiana Tsenkova: Aquaphotomics: From basics to applications and new technologies
3) Harpreet Kaur, University of Waikato, New Zealand: Temperature independent quality prediction of kiwifruit juice using aquaphotomics and external parameter orthogonalization
4) Xuenguang Shao, Nankai University, China: Understanding the complexity of water structures from near-infrared spectra by chemometrics and simulations
5) Akifumi Ikehata: Opening the black box of NIR prediction for sugar content of fruits with the aid of NMR-based metabolomics
The first aquaphotomics session held at ICNIRS conference was well-attended and sparked a lot of interesting questions.
Aquaphotomics session speakers (from left to right): Akifumi Ikehata, Xuegang Shao, Roumiana Tsenkova, Jelena Muncan and Harpreet Kaur
This year’s Conference, apart from hosting an entire session devoted to aquaphotomics, also has seen a lot of poster presentations from all around the world:
Cristina Malegori, University of Genova, Italy: Aquaphotomics approach for understanding the role of water activity during storage: The rice germ case study
Tiziana M.P. Cattaneo, CREA, Italy: Aquaphotomics approach to monitor fruit ripening
Tiziana M.P. Cattaneo, CREA, Italy: Aquaphotomics approach applied to study the effect of the use of Borax and NaCl on caviar (Acipenser Transmotanus) storage
Jelena Muncan, Kobe University, Japan: Deep understanding of the interaction between water and Nafion® polymer by means of NIR spectroscopy and aquaphotomics
Carrie K. Vance, Mississippi State University, USA: NIR-Aquaphotomics analysis of Zearalenone Estrogenicity in cycling mares
Carrie K. Vance, Mississippi State University, USA: Reproductive hormone profiles of estrogen and progesterone in cycling mares can be detected using NIR-aquaphotomics
Felix Scholkmann, University of Zurich, Spectrally-determined sample temperature: An important parameter for applications of near-infrared spectroscopy based aquaphotomics
Xueguang Shao, Nankai University, China: Extracting structural information from temperature-dependent near infrared spectra
Yan Sun, Nankai University, China: Understanding the hydrogen bonding of alcohols by temperature-dependent near infrared spectroscopy
Mian Wang, Nankai University, China, Understanding the interactions in protein aqueous solutions by temperature-dependent near infrared spectroscopy
Hengchang Zang, Shandong University, China, Near infrared spectroscopic study of molecular interaction in ethanol-water mixtures
Mariana Santos-Rivera, Mississippi State University, USA: Gender discrimination using Near Infrared Reflectance (NIR) Spectroscopy
The Conference’s best poster award was in fact presented to Mariana Santos-Rivera from the Mississippi State University for the work on gender discrimination using NIRS in-vivo to detect the chemical changes produced by the chemosignaling glands/regions in salamanders with mucus layers and aqueous skin. Congratulations to Mariana!!!
The winner of the ICNIRS best poster award: Prof. Dr Daniel Cozzolino congratulates the winner, Ms Mariana Santos-Rivera (left); Mariana with prof. Tsenkova and her mentor prof. Dr Carrie Vance from the Mississippi State University (right)
Compared to the past participations, the Australian ICNIRS conference showed that in the meantime aquaphotomics has made large progress. The content of the oral and poster presentations beautifully illustrated the diversity and all the potential of aquaphotomics applications.
We are looking forward to see more developments in future (see you in China in 2021!)
Honorable Chair: Roumiana TSENKOVA (Kobe University, Japan)
Albert KRASTANOV (University of Food Technologies, Bulgaria)
Aleksandar SLAVCHEV (University of Food Technologies, Bulgaria)
Christian HUCK (Leopold-Franzens University, Austria)
Cristina MALEGORI (University of Genova)
Dusan KOJIC (Keio University, Japan)
Everine Van DE KRAATS (Water Research Lab, Germany)
Federico MARINI (University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy)
George BÁZÁR (Kaposvár University, Hungary)
Jelena MUNCAN (Belgrade University, Serbia)
Tiziana CATTANEO (CRA-IT, Italy)
Zoltan KOVACS (Szent István University, Hungary)
Organizing Committee
Chair: Zoltan KOVACS (Szent István University, Hungary)
Bernhard POLNER (Innsbruck University, Austria)
Everine Van DE KRAATS (Water Research Lab, Germany)
Cristina MALEGORI (University of Genova)
George BÁZÁR (Kaposvár University, Hungary)
On behalf of the Organizers, we cordially invite you to the 2nd European Aquaphotomics Conference scheduled to take place on the 2nd – 3rd December, 2019 in Budapest, Hungary.
The 2nd European Aquaphotomics Conference is organized in cooperation with the Faculty of Food Science, Szent Istvan University and the International Aquaphotomics Society.
Aquaphotomics is an interdisciplinary scientific field that has increasingly become relevant in Europe, especially with the dynamic changing era of science and its value to life. The goal of this conference is to build upon evolving ideas from the First Aquaphotomics meeting in Lugano, Switzerland by bringing together scientists, scholars, students and industrial key players to brainstorm on challenges of mutual interest. This conference provides opportunities for delegates and participants from all over the World to exchange new ideas and experiences, to establish business or research relations and to find new partners for future collaboration.
The program will cover major fields of science, particularly spectroscopy and water functionality. The official language will be English and will commence with a semi-irregular but exciting session of direct conversations and interactions among participants. This is to help familiarize with each other’s expertise and get amicable even before the workshop starts so that ideas can be freely shared with more confidence to make greater impacts. Presentations will include invited plenary and keynote lectures, scientific presentations, flash presentations and poster sessions.
We are looking to forward to welcoming you to our amiable city for the 2nd European Aquaphotomics Conference, and we hope that you will find it a stimulating scientific event and an impactful personal experience.
11:00-11:30 Antonella De Ninno (invited speaker) – On the quantum nature of the two fluids in liquid water
11:30-11:45 Paolo Renati – Temperature dependence analysis of the NIR spectra of liquid water confirms the existence of two phases, one of which is in a coherent state
11:45-12:00 Nikolaj Sorgenfrei Blom – DireWaves: Disarming resistant microbes with weak ELF magnetic fields
12:00-12:15 Everine van de Kraats – Water functionality and lessons learnt from NIR spectroscopy
12:15-12:30 Zoltan Gillay – Evaluation of modified handheld spectrometer to transmission mode using NaCl and saccharose
The payments can be done in cash/by card/ or transferring the money to the hotel account* and it has to be done by 15th November, 16:00 (local, Hungary time). Please do not proceed with the payment until your reservation is confirmed by the hotel!
Bank details
Name of the bank: Magnet Magyar Közösségi Bank Zrt.
Address of the bank: 1062, Budapest Andrássy út 98.
Firm code: 01-10-04611
Bank account for EUR payment: HU 12 1620 0106 11633271 00000000 IBAN
SWIFT: HBWE HUHB
Free cancellations can be done until 15th November, 16:00 (local, Hungary time), after this the 100% of the price has to be paid.
Location: The conference venue can be reached in about ten minutes with Tram 51.
Hotel Rila ** – hostel style
Offers of the hotel
Single room (one bed) – 9000 HUF (27 EUR)/room/ night including breakfast
Double room – 12000 HUF (36 EUR)/room/night including breakfast
The prices include taxes and access to Wi-fi.
Reservation instructions
You can make your reservations via website of the hotel. If you choose this hotel, please in the notes write the SZIECONF code. If you would like to stay with someone else, then when you apply please write also in the notes.
Payment and cancellation policy
Payment can be done at the hotel at arrival in cash/by card.
You can cancel and modify your booking by 23rd November, 16:00 (local, Hungary time).
Website: (where you can make your reservation) http://www.hotelrila.com/
Location: The conference venue can be reached in about five minutes on foot.
Tour
Tour fee covers lunch and dinner and visits to some Budapest tourist sites.
From the 21st
to 23rd of July, 2019, the “First Chinese Conference on
Aquaphotomics” was held in Jinan, China. This event was organized by Professor
Hengchang Zang (Shandong University) and Professor Xueguang Shao (Nankai
University). The event was hosted by China Council of Near Infrared
Spectroscopy (CCNIRS), jointly organized by School of Pharmaceutical Sciences,
Shandong University, and sponsored by Bloomage Biotechnology Corporation
Limited.
The Conference
brought together water researchers, students and users of the technology from a
wide variety of backgrounds, applications and industries to present, see and
discuss current developments in aquaphotomics. There were more than 110
participants from a wide range of research fields, including pharmacy, food and
chemical analysis, photobiology,
petrochemistry,
equipment and software suppliers.
The theme of
this conference was “Application of Spectroscopy in Aquaphotomics”. During the
conference, researchers communicated and discussed various topics, such as the
origin of aquaphotomics, methods of aquaphotomics, various applications in
medicine and different industrial branches, specifics of instruments and probes
for water research and so on. Experts discussed in depth and called for more
researchers to join the study of water which may seem to be a simple substance,
but it is a huge world to explore.
The conference
invited Professor Dr Roumiana Tsenkova (Chairperson of the International
Council for Aquaphotomics and a founder of aquaphotomics) and Hoeil Chung (Secretary-General
of Asian NIR Consortium) to give cutting-edge research presentations. Prof.
Hengchang Zang (Shandong University), Prof. Xueguang Shao (Naikai University),
Prof. Jingyan Han (Peking University), Prof. Xinghua Xia (Nanjing University),
Prof. Kexin Xu (Tianjin University), Dr. Xiu’e Jiang (Changchun Institute of
Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences) and Dr. Xueping Guo (Bloomage Biotechnology
Corporation Limited) shared the research results of their laboratories. Most of
the reported achievements were focused on applications in basic research with a
fresh approach to studying using water as a source of information, but many works in the areas of medicine, life
sciences etc. were also presented.
After the
meeting, the experts called for the establishment of the “Chinese Council of Aquaphotomics”
and regular discussions of the topics to promote the development of this
scientific discipline. The hope of the organizers is that regular, successful
conference meetings will attract more people to join this research field, establish
wider network of scientists interested in the research of water molecular
matrix and application of the research findings in industry and everyday-life
applications, thus helping the progress of human society.
The First Chinese Conference on Aquaphotomics will
be held on 21 to 23 July, 2019 in Jinan, Shandong, China. The theme of this
conference is “Application of Spectroscopy in Aquaphotomics”. The conference is
organized by China Council of Near Infrared Spectroscopy, CCNIRS, School of
Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University and Nankai University. And it is
sponsored by Bloomage Biotechnolgy Corporation Limited.
The Conference Organization:
The
Conference Chair:
Hengchang Zang, Shandong University
and Xueguang Shao, Nankai University
The Organizing Committee Chair:
Yiping Du, East
China University of Science and Technology and Xueping Guo, Bloomage Biotechnolgy
Corporation Limited
The keynote
speakers:
Prof. Roumiana Tsenkova
(Kobe University)
Prof. Hoeil
Chung (Hanyang University)
Prof. Jingyan
Han (Peking University)
Prof.
Xinghua Xia (Nanjing University)
Prof. Kexin Xu (Tianjin
University)
Prof.
Xiue Jiang (The Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry)
Prof. Xueguang
Shao (Nankai Univerisity)
Prof. Hengchang
Zang (Shandong University)
Dr.
Xueping Guo (Bloomage Biotechnolgy Corporation
Limited)
Program:
July 21,
Registration
July 22, 8:30 – 18:00
Open lectures & Forum for young researcher
July 23, A visit
to Bloomage Biotechnolgy Corporation Limited
Welcome all
researchers from the world to join the conference.
The 3rd Aquaphotomics
International Symposium was held from 2 to 6 December at the Westin Awaji
Island Resort situated at a beautiful location of Awaji Island in Hyogo
Prefecture, Japan. This year’s Symposium theme – “Water – Exploring Water
Molecular Systems in Nature” gathered researchers from all around world to
present their findings and learn more about water’s incredible properties, and
functions in various aqueous and biological systems.
More than 140 delegates from 20 countries
during the course of five days had an opportunity to attend the bilingual open
lecture, pre-conference workshop, listen to 36 keynote and invited lectures and
see 28 poster presentations.
The Symposium was opened by its
chair-person and founder of aquaphotomics prof. Dr Roumiana Tsenkova, who
during a lecture open to all the public presented the main concepts, principles
and contributions of aquaphotomics in not only the field of water science, but
life science and technological applications that can stem from the utilization
of the acquired knowledge. The lecture was followed by an aquaphotomics
workshop which intended to help attendants navigate the complex world of
chemometrics and data analysis used in aquaphotomics. Dr Dusan Kojic from Keyo
University in Tokyo shared his approach for enhancing subtle differences in
complex spectra of aqueous systems by the application of spectral component
analysis. Dr Ali Gahkani, from Aunir, United Kingdom, this year’s winner of the
Aquaphotomics shootout session at the at the International Diffuse Reflectance
Conference (IDRC), in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, through an interactive
presentation showed the way to drastically improve effectiveness of
quantification and classification of the NIR spectra by applying the covariance
weighting approach aimed at elimination of interferent signal. Dr.Med.Uni.
Bernhard Pollner from Medical University of Innsbruck, Austria and Dr. Zoltan
Kovacs, Associate Professor from Szent Istvan University, Hungary introduced
the “aquap2” software package for R-project programming environment which they
themselves developed specifically to be suited for the aquaphotomics data
analysis. Dr. Federiko Marini, Associate Professor at Sapienza University of
Rome and an expert in chemometrics shared his advices on which chemometric
tools he found to be most useful for the aquaphotomics data analysis. The
workshops were really well received, attracted numerous questions from the
audience and we could only hope that the shared experience of the workshop
instructors would contribute to better data analysis in aquaphotomics community
as well as result in new publications and perhaps novel applications.
Rich Symposium program included many keynote and invited lectures with topics spanning from fundamental water research up to the various points of practical applications of aquaphotomics. The fundamental research covered interaction of light of all frequencies with water and findings that resulted from it. The program was divided into sessions: X-ray spectroscopy of water, UV spectroscopy of water, THz spectroscopy of water, Chemometrics, The role of water in health, Biomedical applications, Polymer-water interaction and biocompatibility, and many others. Several keynotes speakers – Dr. Craig Shwartz (X-ray spectroscopy of water), Prof. Dr. Koichiro Tanaka (THz spectroscopy of water), Prof. Dr. Hiro-o Hamaguchi (Formation of “nano-ice” in cold water), Prof. Dr. Gerald Pollack (Exclusion zone water and its role in health), Prof. Dr. Masaru Tanaka (Role of water in biocompatibility), Prof. Dr. Yasui Masato (Aquaporins) and Dr. Michal Cifra (Bioelectrodynamics), Prof. Dr Xueguang Shao (Chemometrics) delivered really novel and exciting findings and provoked many questions from the audience. The full list of speakers, their biographies and presentations can be found at the official conference website (https://conference.aquaphotomics.com/ ).
This year’s Symposium also made a
significant step towards the future development of aquaphotomics not only as a
scientific field, but also as an international organization. The efforts of the
past few years finally came to fruition with the establishment of Aquaphotomics
International Society (IAQPS). The Society is established with the aim to
promote and facilitate integration of aquaphotomics knowledge into all areas of
life sciences, thereby contributing to better understanding of water-light
interaction and structure and functionalities of water species in aqueous and
biological systems. During the 1st General Assembly officially,
after the attendees were introduced to the organizational structure, vision and
mission, by majority of the votes Prof. Dr. Roumiana Tsenkova was elected as
its president, Univ.-Prof.Mag.Dr. Christian Huck and Prof. Dr. Masato Yasui
were elected as vice-presidents and Prof. Dr. Shigeaki Morita as a treasurer,
while Dr Everine van de Kraats will serve as a secretary of the Society. More
than 15 officers in the Society Board will be in charge of European and
Japanese liaison, as well as for development of various aspects of
aquaphotomics research, technological development, promotion, education and
others. Prof. Dr. Mutsuo Iwamoto, Prof. Dr. Yukihiro Ozaki, and Prof. Dr.
Hiro-o Hamaguchi, will serve as members
of the The Advisory Board of the Society. Currently, the membership is free for
all who are interested in aquaphotomics (http://qoy.vxf.mybluehost.me/).
It is expected that Society will play pivotal role in the future development of
aquaphotomics-based research and aquaphotomics-based technological application.
The best poster presenters were selected based on the largest number of votes from the delegates. The Poster Awarding Committee with three judges – Prof. Dr. Xuegang Shao from Nanking University, Univ.-Prof.Mag.Dr. Christian Huck from University of Innsbruck and Dr. Cristina Malegori from University of Genova had a difficult task of monitoring the voting. Among 28 posters displayed, three caught the most attention from the audience. The best posters from this year’s symposium were presented by Ms. Xiaoyu Cui from Nankai University in China (High dimensional chemometric algorithms for analyzing temperature dependent near infrared spectra), Prof. Dr. Angelina Kisselova, from Medical University in Sofia, Bulgaria (Pilot study of mouthwash Yume water) and Ms. Yuri Nakamura from Isol Technica, Japan (Use of the functional water for waterproofing on the highway concrete slab).
The Symposium also had a rich social program – the guests had an opportunity to visit the magnificent gardens of Westin Awaji Island Resort, during the Banquet they experienced the famous Tea ceremony and enjoyed marimba musical pieces and traditional Japanese music. During the final two days a tour of the Japanese sacred mountain Mt. Koya was organized, where guests visited several temple complexes and then afterwards, had a relaxing time at the Yunosato spa in Wakayama province.
The Symposium was deemed a great success
and a very inspirational time for all who attended.
今回のシンポジウムでは、「自然界における水分子システムの探求」（Exploring
Water Molecular Systems in Nature）というテーマのもと、水の様々な特異性とその機能性の理解および生体・水溶液・食品など、水を有するものに対して水が持つ役割の理解をしようと努める世界中の研究者を集めることを目的としました。
「A Poor Man’s Guide to AquaPhotomics: Analysis of Variance in
Near-Infrared Spectra of Water」Dusan Kojic氏（慶応義塾大学）、「Removing interference signal from NIR spectra」Ali Gahkani氏（Aunir）、「Aquaphotomics multivariate analysis
tools – aquap2」Zoltan Kovacs氏（Szent Istvan大学）とBernhard Pollner氏（インスブルック医科大学）、「Chemometric tools for aquaphotomics」Federico Marini氏（サピエンツァ大学）
「X-RAY AND UV-SPECTROSCOPY」Craig Schwartz氏（スタンフォード大学SLAC）、「CHEMOMETRICS」Xueguang Shao氏（南開大学）、「THZ
SPECTROSCOPY」田中耕一郎氏（京都大学）
・応用セッションの基調講演
「Nano-ice” forms in cold water and causes the density maximum anomaly」浜口博雄氏（国立交通大学）「The fourth phase of water: a central role in health」Gerald Pollack氏（ワシントン大学）、「Design of
soft-biomaterials based on the interfacial water structure for advanced medical
devices」田中勝氏（九州大学）、「Water biology and medicine:
roles of aquaporins (AQP)」安井正人氏（慶応義塾大学）、「Microwave
and optical bioelectrodynamics at the nanoscale and molecular level」Michal Cifra氏（Institute of Photonics and
Electronics）
本シンポジウムにおいては、2日目にアクアフォトミクス国際学会「Aquaphotomics International
Society（IAQPS）」が設立されました。まず、Everine van de Kraats氏から国際アクアフォトミクス国際学会設立に関する提案がなされ、多数の参加者の賛同を得ました。その後、第一回国際アクアフォトミクス総会では、改めて以下の設立趣旨および目的が説明されました。
The “3rd Aquaphotomics International Symposium – Exploring Water Molecular Systems in Nature” was successfully held in Dec 2 – 6, 2018 in Awaji Yumebutai, Hyogo, Japan.
Date: December 2 – 6, 2018
Venue: Awaji Yumebutai International Conference Center, Awaji, Hyogo, Japan
Organizers:
The 3rd Aquaphotomics International Symposium Organizing Committee
Biomeasurement Technology Laboratory, Faculty of Agriculture, Kobe University
Partnership:
The Spectroscopy Society of Japan
The Japanese Society of Agriculture Machinery and Food Engineering
The Society of Agriculture Structures, Japan
Core Members:
Honorable Chair: Mutsuo IWAMOTO (Kagoshima-Osumi Food Technology Development Center)
Dear colleagues, 
