Young Scientists Committee Meeting 2002 "Paris"

This year the TIAFT Young Scientists met for over 2 hours during the 40th TIAFT annual meeting in Paris. About 50 young scientists attended the meeting. The programme consisted of three presentations and some lively discussion.

The presentations were:

• Frank T. Peters (Homburg, Germany)
  Bio-analytical method validation
  Frank discussed some of the pitfalls young scientists are experiencing with regard to the validation of analytical methods. Frank presented some theoretical models, explored statistical applications and gave some examples from his own research in this presentation.
   
  
• Thomas Stimpfl (Vienna, Austria)
  Screening for the general unknown in tissue samples
  Thomas described a systematic approach to identifying compounds of interest as an initial screening tool for unknowns. Thomas described a systematic approach for the identification of compounds of interest in complex matrices like post-mortem tissues. Through automation of the sample preparation and interpretation of the GC-MS screening data, the throughput of samples could be increased. He gave a brief overview of current literature followed by a demonstration of his own work.
   
  
• Frank Sporkert (Berlin, Germany)
  free topic
  Frank discussed an anomaly in a recent toxicology proficiency test relating to the analysis of cannabinoids in blood for drug-affected drivers. Frank elaborated on the problem of realistic detection limits in relation to reporting of results - some robust discussion took place, which was encouraging.

This year was marked by the departure of the founding members of the TIAFT YSC. Pascal Kintz, Alain Verstraete, Carmen Jurado, Pierre Marquet and Aldo Polettini have all retired from the YSC. We particularly like to thank Pascal and Alain for all their hard work and their belief in the younger scientists of TIAFT. Carmen, Pierre and Aldo should also be commended for their commitment and input. We shall of course continue to see them at future TIAFT meetings!

The future of the YSC lies not with the president or the secretary but the young scientists themselves. We as a committee will endeavour to meet the demands of young scientists and will promote young scientist activities as best we can. As a result an exciting programme has been planned (10am-5pm, 15th November 2003) for young scientists next year at the TIAFT meeting in Melbourne. This will give us ample time to discuss many themes and have some genuine case presentations and worked examples relating to interpretation of analytical results in forensic toxicology. All suggestions should be forwarded to the committee via the secretary for consideration. Naturally, the committee will continue to award the best poster, best oral presentation and best paper published in 2002. Information on these matters will be distributed before the meeting in Melbourne.

We also have the task of establishing a new committee over the next few weeks. Check the TIAFT website for regular updates.

Regards,

Thomas Kraemer - President TIAFT YSC - thomas.kraemer@uniklinik-saarland.de Jim Gerostamoulos - Secretary TIAFT YSC - jimg@vifp.monash.edu.au