FACSS Innovation awardS

The FACSS Innovation Awards were founded in 2011 as part of the 2011 FACSS meeting at the suggestion of Prof. Pavel Matousek (Program Chair) and approved by the FACSS Governing Board.

These awards are given for the most innovative and outstanding new research advancements debuted orally at the SciX Conference. All program areas are included. Only research findings presented for the first time in the public domain qualify for entry. Work based on submitted papers not yet published electronically or in print at the time of abstract submission also qualifies. All attendees are eligible for the award irrespective of educational level or professional vocation.

During abstract submission, the presenting author opts in to be considered for the award and submits a short supporting statement. View complete application instructions to ensure eligibility before applying. Up to four finalists are selected to present to a panel of judges at a special plenary session on Thursday afternoon at the SciX conference. Presenters are notified in advance of the conference and each presenting author finalist will receive complimentary registration to SciX. The winner is selected by the judging panel based on the quality of the work presented, responses provided to the judges' questions after the plenary presentation, and responses to audience questions. The winner is announced at the closing plenary session on Friday morning.

Each award includes:

• A total cash prize of $1500 and a plaque to the presenting author
• A plaque for each co-author
• Publicity for the awardees and their work

2022 Winner

Mads S. Bergholt

"Opto-Lipidomics of Tissues"

Mads S Bergholt is a Senior Lecturer at King’s College London leading the Label-free Bioimaging Laboratory. He received his MSc. Degree in Engineering, Physics and Technology (optics) from the University of Southern Denmark and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from National University of Singapore in 2014. He was then awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship at Imperial College London and a King’s Prize Fellowship at King’s College London. For his contribution to bioimaging in tissue engineering he was given the United Kingdom Regenerative Medicine Platform (UKRMP) Special Merit Prize. In 2019 he started his own group at King’s College London working on biomedical optics, linear/non-linear optical spectroscopy/imaging, endoscopy and artificial intelligence.

Co-authors who are also recognized: Elzbieta Stepula, Vincenzo Abbate, Ciro Chiappini, Tom Vercauteren, Ka Lung Andrew Chan, Nathan Siddall, Keith, Farrell-Dillon, Sarah Chapple, Giovanni Mann, Anahid Ahmadi Birjandi, Magnus Jensen, Davide Martella

Review the award announcement.

2022 FINALISTS

Lydia Kisley, PhD 

"What Lies Beneath your Elution Peak: Imaging When and Where Analytes Adsorb to Commercial Stationary Phase Particles"

Aditya Garg, PhD

"Biomimetic Transparent Nanoplasmonic Meshes by Reverse-Nanoimprinting for Bio-interfaced Spatiotemporal Multimodal Surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy"

Daniel-Ralph Hermann

"Rapid Vibrational Circular Dichroism – Opportunities through the combination of External Cavity Quantum Cascade lasers and Balanced Detection"

Past Recipients

2021 INNOVATION AWARD WINNER: 

EASI: A New Paradigm for Mass Spectral Identifications; 

Glen P. Jackson

2019 INNOVATION AWARD WINNERS:

Chemical Approaches to Improve Nanopore Single-Molecule Sensing; 

Jason R. Dwyer, James Hagan; University of Rhode Island

2018 INNOVATION AWARD WINNERS: 

Electrically Triggered Water-in-Oil Droplets for Serial Femtosecond Crystallography)
Alexandra Ros (Arizona State University);

Interband Cascade Laser Frequency Combs: A New Tool for Miniaturization

Benedikt Schwarz (Technische Universität Wien);

2017 INNOVATION AWARD WINNER:
Optical Reflection and Waveguiding of Sound in Free Space
Daniel Kazal¹, Ellen Holthoff², Brian Cullum¹; ¹University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 
²Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD

2016 INNOVATION AWARD WINNER:
An Inexpensive Medical Device for Barrett’s Esophagus Screening; Rohith Reddy^{1, 2},
Michalina Gora^1,2, Jing Dong^{1, 2}, Matthew Beatty^{, 2}, Wolfgang Trasischker^{1, 2}, Kanwarpal Singh^1,2,
Amna Soomro^{, 2}, Catriona Grant^{, 2}, Mireille Rosenberg^{, 2}, Guillermo Tearney^{1, 2}; ¹Harvard Medical School; ²Massachusetts General Hospital

Interview with Rohith Reddy by Spectroscopy

2015 INNOVATION AWARD WINNERS:
Five-dimensional Single Particle Tracking in Live Cells; Ning Fang¹, Yan Gu²,Kuangcai Chen^1,2, Tian Xia⁴; ¹Georgia State University; ²Iowa State University; ³Ames Laboratory, USDOE; ⁴Huazhong University of Science & 

Technology

SERS in Live 3D Cell Cultures as a New Tool for Drug Discovery; Colin Campbell¹, Lauren Jamieson¹, Pierre Bagnaninchi¹, David Harrison² Victoria Camus; 

¹University of Edinburgh; ²University of St Andrews

2014 INNOVATION AWARD WINNER:

Sub-PPM Detection Limits in Powder X-Ray Diffraction Guided by Second Harmonic Generation Imaging; Garth Simpson, Purdue University
Interview with Garth Simpson by Spectroscopy Magazine

2013 INNOVATION AWARD WINNERS:
Imaging Quantum Effects in Biological Systems; Gregory S. Engel, The University of Chicago
Interview with Gregory Engel by Spectroscopy Magazine

Portable Spectrometry: Making Good Use of CMOS Detectors; Alexander Scheeline¹, Thu Anh Bui^1,2; ¹SpectroClick, Inc.,  ²Vietnam National University Hanoi      Interview with Alexander Scheeline by Spectroscopy Magazine

2012 INNOVATION AWARD WINNER:
Rohit Bhargava, University of Illinois, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
Advancing Infrared Microscopy Instrumentation by Theory and Computation; Rohit Bhargava, P. Scott Carney, Rohith Reddy, Kevin Yeh, Thomas van Dijk, Matthew Gelber, Matthew V. Schulmerich; University of Illinois, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology

2011 INNOVATION AWARD WINNERS
Ultrasound Enhanced ATR mid-IR Fibre Optic Probe for Spectroscopy of Particles in Suspensions; Cosima Koch, Markus Brandstetter, Stefan Radel, Bernhard Lendl; Vienna University of Technology, Austria

Interview with Koch and Lendl
Large-Area Standoff Planetary Raman Measurements Using a Novel Spatial Heterodyne Fourier Transform Raman Spectrometer; S. Michael Angel1, Nathaniel R. Gomer1, Shiv K. Sharma2, J. Chance Carter3; 1University of South Carolina, 2University of Hawaii, 3Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Interview with Angel
Single Molecule Fluorescence Imaging Studies of Dynamic Processes in Reversed Phase Chromatographic Materials; Justin Cooper, Eric Peterson, Joel Harris, University of Utah

Interview with Cooper
Laser Ablation Molecular Isotopic Spectrometry - New Dimension of LIBS ; Alexander Bol'shakov¹, Richard Russo^1,2, Xianglei Mao², Dale Perry², Osman Sorkhabi², Chris McKay³; ¹Applied Spectra, Inc., Fremont, CA, ²LBNL, Berkeley, CA, ³NASA-Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA

Interview with Bol'shakov