EuCheMS 2016: MOOCs in teaching analytical chemistry at University of Tartu

mooc_vs_traditional_courses_in_chemistryOn Sept 13, 2016 Ivo Leito gave a presentation Using MOOCs for teaching analytical chemistry: experience at University of Tartu at the EuCheMS 2016 Congress (Seville, Spain).

The presentation outlined the contents and organisation of the material in the on-line course Estimation of measurement uncertainty in chemical analysis, the different ways of using the on-line material (for independent learning, for self-testing, as an information source and as a basis for running as a MOOC) and the experience of running it as a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) at University of Tartu during the three MOOC editions in 2014 to 2016. An important part of the presentation was devoted to analyzing the pros and cons of MOOCs as a way of teaching and in particular as a way of teaching analytical chemistry (or its subdisciplines). It was concluded that MOOCs do have advantages, especially if compared to short training courses for practitioners. The talk created quite some interest and discussions after the session.

Detailed discussion of this topic has been published: I. Leito, I. Helm, L. Jalukse. Anal Bioanal Chem 2015, 407, 1277–1281.
The course material is available for all interested people from https://sisu.ut.ee/measurement/

Preparation of a new MOOC course Validation of LC-MS analysis methods is currently underway by the group of analytical chemistry. The materials of the LC-MS validation course are nearing completion and are already available online.

New EACH and AMS students started their studies!

EACH_and_AMS_Students_UT_2016This week was the first study week for the new Applied Measurement Science students and EACH Erasmus Mundus. Altogether 19 students started their studies. The countries of origin of the students are Vietnam, Philippines, Russia, Serbia, Kazakhstan, China, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Nigeria, Mexico, Lithuania, Tunisia, Pakistan and Greece. During the introductory meeting an overview of the programme was given (see the slides) and a large number of questions were asked and answered, accompanied by tea/coffee and cake.

We wish successful studies to all new students!

 

What is the best LC-MS ion source? How to determine Limit of detection of a method?

Asko_Laaniste_Hanno_EvardThese very important (and up to now not completely solved) questions got a lot clearer on Aug 31, 2016 as PhD dissertations addressing these topics were defended at UT Institute of Chemistry.

Asko Laaniste (left on the photo) in his thesis titled “Comparison and optimisation of novel mass spectrometry ionisation sources” and in the recent paper ESI outcompetes other ion sources in LC-MS trace analysis Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 2019 has carried out an extensive experimental comparison of 4 different LC-MS ion sources operated altogether in 7 different modes in the analysis of 41 different pesticides. The obtained large pool of data was used for comparing the sources in terms of matrix effects, limit of detection (LoD), repeatability, linearity, signal to noise ratio (S/N) and sensitivity.

Asko demonstrated that for low levels of analytes in most cases the conventional ESI is the ion source of choice (provided the analytes are ionizable with ESI), while dopant-assisted APPI is a good alternative if low detection limits are not required and if compounds not ionizable with ESI are determined.

This is currently the most comprehensive comparison of this type available and Asko’s thesis (and the forthcoming publication) could serve as a “desk manual“ for LC-MS practitioners on choosing ion source for LC-MS analysis.

The central question of Hanno Evard’s thesis “Estimating limit of detection for mass spectrometric analysis methods” and in the corresponding two-part tutorial review Tutorial on estimating the limit of detection using LC-MS analysis (Anal. Chim. Acta 2016, 942, 23-39, Anal. Chim. Acta 2016, 942, 40-49) was: what is the best way of evaluating detection limit (LoD) of an analytical method? There are around ten widespread approaches for LoD in the literature (plus less well known ones) and the LoD values obtained using different approaches can differ by up to 10 times.

Hanno (right on the photo) carried out comprehensive analysis of the literature approaches and combined that with extensive experiments. As a result he was able to propose and convincingly justify one approach, which has merits over others and should be used for evaluation of LoD.

Hanno Evard is an alumnus of the Applied Measurement Science programme – the predecessor programme of EACH.

Our warmest congratulations to Asko and Hanno!

EcoBalt 2016: the programme is converging nicely!

We are glad to announce that the EcoBalt 2016 programme has been converging nicely – we have now a lot of interesting presenters! At the same time there are still free slots so that we continue to accept abstracts both for oral and poster presentations. The conference takes place in Tartu (Estonia) during 9.-12. October 2016.

In addition to the scientific content the EcoBalt 2016 conference will be hosting two tutorial classes with the following topics:

— Tutorial on measurement uncertainty (Oct 09, 2016)
— Tutorial on LC/MS method validation (Oct 12, 2016)

Both of these will be interactive sessions oriented towards solving practical questions, making decisions in measurement uncertainty and validation, performing calculations, etc. The tutorials assume basic knowledge of the topics – measurement uncertainty and validation, respectively. There is no extra fee for the tutorial classes – the conference fee covers also the tutorials. If you are interested in participation in one or both tutorial classes, please register to the EcoBalt 2016 conference.

The registration is still open at the EcoBalt 2016 website.

The most current information is in the EcoBalt 2016 4th circular.

We also have created the EcoBalt 2016 Facebook page where all the latest news are presented.

If any questions, do not hesitate to contact the local organizers, Dr Riin Rebane (riin.rebane@ut.ee) or Prof Ivo Leito (ivo.leito@ut.ee).

EcoBalt 2016 is an environmental science conference, with a strong focus on environmental analytical chemistry and metrology/quality aspects of analytical measurements and there will be a special session there dedicated to these topics.

 

Rankings of University of Tartu

University of TartuIn a recent ranking of Eastern European and Central Asian universities by QS, one of the world’s leading compilers of university performance ratings, the University of Tartu scored a high fifth place, maintaining the highest rank among Estonian and Baltic universities.

The winner in this ranking is the Lomonosov Moscow State University, followed by Novosibirsk University, and Saint Petersburg State University. Charles University in Prague comes fourth.

The strengths of University of Tartu are its academic reputation (98/100), citations per paper (96.9/100), papers per faculty (96.2/100) and web impact (93.8/100).

The position of UT in the worldwide ranking lists has during the recent years consistently become better and UT now ranks generally among the top 500 universities in the world. According to the QS World University Ranking University of Tartu is at position 400. According to the Times Higher Education Ranking University of Tartu is in the range 351-400.

 

MSC Summer School 2016 successfully finished!

EACH_Students_at_MSC_Summer_School_2016On Friday 22.07.2016 The MSC Euromaster Summer School 2016 finished. The feedback from some of the UT participants indicates that it was again a success! They shared their experience:

 

TetianaTetiana Melnyk (Ukraine):
I want to say a big big thank you for the opportunity to go to summer school! It was a great experience, and I met a lot of new people. If you ask me to evaluate, I would say it was excellent!

SantoshSantosh Raman Acharya (Nepal):
Summer school was amazing experience for me. The most challenging and exciting part was to work with people from all over the world with different experience in their respective fields. We made a lot of presentations, lab works and audit practice in the company “Umicore”, and the most inspiring moment was to meet with Sander Sannik at the summer school. In overall it was a full package of learning with fun!

AleksandraAleksandra Lelevic (Montenegro):
I have to say that I don’t remember when I had so much fun and when I have been so tired all at the same time :-)! It was a very intensive course that brought together a very interesting group of people and I am very happy I got the opportunity to meet closely many of them. I particularly liked the practical part of the school where we had to carry out analysis ourselves and work out a way to get along and think of good solutions together as a group.

RabinRabin Neupane (Nepal):
Summer school was a perfect platform where I got challenges as a Analytical Chemist and develop an ability to cope with those challenges. I must thank Ivo for the lectures in Meteorology in Chemistry at UT, which was foundation for me to be confident and perform well in summer school. Besides lectures in summer school, I would miss the bar, friends from different corners of world, those dances and karaoke we had at end of each day in summer school. It has been a life time experience. Thank you Ivo for such an opportunity.

 

The 2017 MSC Summer school will take place in Lithuania.

 

MSC Summer School 2016

UT_Participants_at_MSC_Summer_School_2016This week saw the start (on Mon, Jul 11, 2016) of the 9th MSC Euromaster summer school in Malle (near Antwerpen, Belgium).

As in previous years, a core aim of the Summer school is shifting the activities away from the classical lecture-type of teaching by increasing the share of discussions, hands-on work, teamwork. A key activity of the summer school is the contest of student teams (setting up virtual laboratories and interacting with customers), which tests their knowledge and skills in all areas of metrology in chemistry.

Four students from University of Tartu (EACH programme) take part in the summer school: Tetiana Melnyk, Aleksandra Lelevic, Rabin Neupane and Santosh Raman Acharya (on the photo, left to right).

We wish exciting and enjoyable Summer school to all participants!

(Photo: Irja Helm)

 

Defence of AMS Master’s Theses 2016

AMS_Master_Thesis_Defence_2016Today (June 06, 2016) 11 AMS master students successfully defended their master’s theses. Congratulations to all of you!

Photo on the left, from left to right: Xiaozhou Ye, Martinš Jansons, Oluwamayowa Sharon Sanni, Sylvestre Tc Pagkeu, Sofia Raquel Alves Oliveira, Stanislav Andres, Theofanis Panagiotopoulos, Max Hecht, Sagar Ramanbhai Patel, Rūta Veigure, Francis Gyakwaa.

As is usual for AMS the topics of the theses were diverse ranging from artificial photosynthesis to measurements in biochemistry and from determination of dangerous radionuclides to calibration of hygrometers. The full list of the defenders and their thesis titles is below. This list demonstrates well the ubiquitous nature of measurement science. The scientific/technological quality of the theses was high: a number of research papers are planned to be published on the basis of the theses and the results of one of them will be patented.Ruta Veigure discussing with the opponent AMS_Master_Theses_Defence_2016 (Photo on the right: Rūta Veigure discussing with the opponent)

Full list of students and thesis topics:

  • Sylvestre Tc Pagkeu, Joint application of an ARC-probe and antibody in homogeneous TR-FRET assay for determination of the concentration of protein kinase Pim2
  • Max Hecht, Investigations of chlorophyll interactions in Water Soluble Chlorophyll Binding Protein
  • Sofia Raquel Alves Oliveira, Role of the stringent response in antibiotic tolerance of Escherichia coli
  • Rūta Veigure, Development and validation of UHPLC-MS/MS method for analysis of sedative drugs and their metabolites in blood plasma
  • Oluwamayowa Sharon Sanni, Development and validation of gamma spectrometric analysis procedure using a high purity Germanium detector
  • Sagar Ramanbhai Patel, Development of foreign body detection methodology in industrial food preparation process
  • Theofanis Panagiotopoulos, Calibration of hygrometers at fluctuating and transient conditions
  • Francis Gyakwaa, Validation of alpha spectrometric analytical measurement procedure for the determination of Polonium-210 (210Po) in environmental samples
  • Xiaozhou Ye, Relationships between Environmental Factors and the Growth of Above-Ground Biomass in Boreal Forest
  • Martinš Jansons, Characterization of natural sedimentary dolomite and limestone reference materials from Geological Survey of Estonia using LA-ICP-MS
  • Stanislav Andres, Development of method for preliminary identification of cyclic dinucleotides in bacterial cultures

 

Measurement uncertainty online course (MOOC) successfully finished!

UT_Measurement_Uncertainty_MOOC_Participants_2016On May 17, 2016 the MOOC Estimation of measurement uncertainty in chemical analysis offered by University of Tartu finished successfully.
Altogether 757 people registered (270 in 2014, 489 in 2015) from 85 countries. 455 participants actually started the course (i.e. tried at least one graded test at least once) and out of them 308 successfully completed the course (169 in 2015, 141 in 2014). The overall completion rate was 40% (52% in 2014, 34% in 2015). The completion rate of participants who started the studies was 67% (67% in 2014, 60% in 2015). These completion rates can be considered very good for a MOOC, especially one that has quite difficult calculation exercises, which need to be done correctly for completing the course.

The participants were very active and asked lots of questions. These were often very much to the point and addressed things that are really important to analysts in their everyday work. The course had several forums (general and by topic) and the overall number of posts to them during the course period reached beyond 500! (overall number of posts, both from participants and from teachers)

This active participation made teaching this MOOC a great experience also for us, the teachers. The discussion threads gave a lot of added value to the course and some of them triggered making important modifications to the course materials.

We want to thank all participants for helping to make this course a success!

We plan to repeat this course again in Spring 2017.

(Image: Wikimedia Commons)

 

Establishing Atmospheric Pressure Chemical Ionization Efficiency Scale

UT100412AT462The series of works from the UT Analytical chemistry group on measuring and predicting ionization efficiency in the electrospray (ESI) ion source of MS and LC-MS has reached a new milestone: for the first time an ionization efficiency scale for the atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) source has been established.

The work led by Dr Riin Rebane (photo on the left) resulted in APCI ionization efficiency scale containing 40 compounds with widely ranging chemical and physical properties and spanning 5 orders of magnitude of ionization efficiency. Analysis of the resulting data challenges the common knowledge about APCI as ionization method. Contrary to the common knowledge, ionization efficiency order in the APCI source is surprisingly similar to that in the ESI source and most of the compounds that are best ionized in the APCI source are not small volatile molecules. Large tetraalkylammonium cations are a prominent example. These findings suggest that the atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mechanism can be more complex than generally assumed and most probably several ionization mechanisms operate in parallel and a mechanism not relying on evaporation of neutral molecules from droplets has significantly higher influence than commonly assumed.

See the original publication Anal. Chem. 2016, 88, 3435-3439 for more information.

(Photo: Andres Tennus)