19th international isotope society (UK group) symposium: synthesis & applications of labelled compounds 2010

The 19th annual symposium of the International Isotope Society's United Kingdom Group took place at the Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK on Thursday 14th October 2010. The meeting was attended by around 80 delegates from academia and industry, the life sciences, chemical, radiochemical and scientific instrument suppliers. Delegates were welcomed by Dr. Ken Lawrie (GlaxoSmithKline, UK, chair of the IIS UK group). The subsequent scientific programme consisted of oral and poster presentations on isotopic chemistry and applications of labelled compounds, or of chemistry with potential implications for isotopic synthesis. Both short-lived and long-lived isotopes were represented, as were stable isotopes. The symposium programme was divided into a morning and an afternoon session chaired by Prof. Chris Willis (University of Bristol, UK) and Dr. Nigel Botting (University of St Andrews, UK) respectively. In addition, a short presentation on the formation of Special Interest Groups within the International Isotope Society was given by Dr. George Ellames (Covance, UK), who asked members with particular isotopic interests to contact him (george.ellames@covance.com) if they would like to be involved in forming or participating in these groups. The UK meeting concluded with remarks from Dr. Ken Lawrie (GlaxoSmithKline, Stevenage, UK). This year's UK symposium had an excellent level of sponsorship, and the symposium should prove self-financing. The location and facilities of the Hinxton campus again proved very popular and the next IIS UK symposium is provisionally planned for 18th October 2011 at the same venue.