Both are Graduates in the lab of Dr. Ian Thorpe. Congratulations to you both!!

For over a decade Professor Geddes and the IoF have described in over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts and greater than 100 patents, the interactions of Fluorophores (fluorescent molecules / dyes) with Plasmon supporting materials. This area of science, which was originally termed “Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence (MEF)” by Professor Geddes in 2001, has become a very active area of research in the world today, not only academically but also commercially and militarily, with the IoFs work cited » 5000 times today in the peer reviewed literature. To celebrate this very active area of research and the IoFs pioneering work in this field, Professor Geddes and the IoF have organized and published a special themed issue in PCCP (Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics) dedicated to Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence (MEF).  An Image from one aspect of the groups MEF work is featured on the front cover of PCCP.

Congratulations to Professor Geddes and the IoF for their continued successes in MEF.

Dr. Zeev Rosensweig has formally accepted UMBC's offer to become the Chairman of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, effective January 1st, 2014. On accepting his appointment as the chemistry and biochemistry chair, Rosenzweig said, "I am honored to have been selected Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UMBC. Rosenzweig’s appointment as chair brings to a conclusion a successful national search for a leader who will build upon, and enhance, the outstanding reputation of UMBC’s department of chemistry and biochemistry in teaching, research, outreach and service.

Professor Chris D. Geddes and the Institute of Fluorescence have recently been announced winners of the 2013 innovator of the year award by the Daily Record. Dr Geddes and the IoF have won the award for their development of a very rapid and low cost test for the determination of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). Typically clinical diagnostics for STIs can take as long as 48 hrs, over which time the epidemiological transmission and infection spread can occur further. The IoFs technology can detect the presence of an STI within 8 minutes, allowing a real-time point-of-care test to be realized, meaning that patients presenting with STI-like symptoms in an emergency department / clinic can be diagnosed and potentially treated on-site. The new test costs less than $2 per swab, making the test attractive for downstream commercialization and clinical use.

In addition to Dr Geddes, IoF / Chemistry Graduate Student Johan Melendez has worked on the project as part of his thesis, the clinical validation of the technology recently being reported in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

Further details of the award and other technology developments can be found on the IoF (UMBC’s Institute of Fluorescence) website.

We congratulate Professor Geddes and the IoF team on this notable award.