OSU Professor commences conference

Dr. Ziad El Rassi, professor of chemistry, has put together an exhibition meeting that chemists from all over the world will be attending.

As chairman of the 17th annual Liquid Phase Separations and Capillary Electroseparation Techniques conference, Rassi will be commencing the program with a welcome speech.

"I have spent the last three months contacting scientists from all over world to come and lecture on electro-phoresis in liquid phase seperation." Rassi said.

Electro-Phoresis is the process of using electrical currant to separate chemicals in the solution.

Sam Karenga, a PhD Chemistry student, will have an opportunity to be part of the conference.

"I will give five poster presentations based on my former research as a graduate student under the supervision of Rassi," Karenga said. "It will be on the application of different neutral  polymeric organic-based monolithic columns to the chromatographic analysis of neutral and charged species in capillary electrochromatography."

He goes on to explain not only does this process affect chemistry, but is also performed in pharmacy, biotechnology, complex mixture separations and food tech. "It relates to people in all of science," Rassi said.

Since this process relates to all of science, it is also important to the continuation of further research,

"The separated products could differ in ion charge, chemical property, physical state, or overall size. It's important in science because dealing with simple components is more manageable than dealing with mixtures," Aaron Lowe, a biochemistry and molecular biology senior, said.

Lowe continues to explain liquid separation in simpler terms, "The compounds can be so different within a mixture, it's important to isolate them so you know which chemical is reacting with what component and to know that Chemical A won't have an effect on Chemical B."

The conference will be held in Baltimore, Md., at the Tremont Plaza Hotel. The conference started Aug. 29 and concludes Sept. 1. Throughout the week, world-renowned speakers will present 120 lectures and exhibitions. For more information, visit fp.okstate.edu.