Published on: 27-07-2012

Dear TIAFT members,

It is nearly two months since our successful meeting in Hamamatsu, Japan, where we had 450 attendees from 47 countries. I was impressed with the perfect and smooth organisation of the meeting. For many of us this was the first visit to Japan, and I am sure many are hoping to go back. Many thanks to Prof. Suzuki and his team of volunteers for all their dedication and work for making this meeting possible.

As you know, next year TIAFT will celebrate its founding 50 years ago. The dates have now been set: We will have an anniversary meeting on April 26 and 27th 2013 at the Guildhall in London. The meeting will be organised in close collaboration with the LTG (formerly London Toxicology Group). I was in London 2 weeks ago and visited the Guildhall together with the LTG committee. As more information becomes available, it will be posted on the website.

The board came up with a new initiative to help laboratories in developing countries. If a lab in a developing country asks for assistance in developing a method, TIAFT will send a young scientist for a short stay, and pay the costs for flight and stay. Before the board decides to fund a project, several conditions should be met, e.g. the equipment should be there and ready to work, the necessary reagents, gases and other lab equipment should be available. This should be documented beforehand. In the ideal circumstances, the young scientist should speak the language of the host country and have experience with the instrument that is present locally. The young scientist committee reacted enthusiastically to this proposal and a database of young scientists is being set up. I also know some laboratories that are interested, and I hope we can have a pilot project very soon.

Alain Verstraete,
TIAFT President