On Wednesday 18 June 2008 more than 120 members of the public and invitees including prominent scientists, state and international dignitaries and journalists attended the launch of the newly founded Center for Analytical Instrumentation Development (CAID) at the Burton Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship located in Purdue University's Discovery Park. The launch coincided with the retirement and career celebration of Prof. Fred Lytle, faculty member and instrumentation scientist in the Chemistry Department at Purdue University since 1968.

     Prof. Richard Kuhn, Director of the Bindley Biosciences Center in which CAID is located opened the symposium and CAID co-director Prof. R. Graham Cooks (Purdue) outlined the rationale and objectives of CAID. The center aims to develop innovative “machine-tools of science” to enable discoveries across a broad spectrum of life sciences by fostering regional partnerships and international collaborations in instrumentation development. Instrumentation scientists from regional partner universities, Paul Bohn of Notre Dame University, Stephen Jacobson of Indiana University and Ifran Ahmad of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign gave presentations which highlighted the strengths of analytical instrumentation in the region.

From left to right: Prof’s Richard Kuhn (Purdue), Graham Cooks (Purdue), Paul Bohn (Notre Dame), Ifran Ahmad (UIUC), Stephen Jacobson (IU)

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Prof. C. N. R. Rao answering a question from Prof. R.G. Cooks after his College of Science Centennial Lecture.

     International collaborators present at the symposium included The Honorable Prof. C.N.R. Rao honorary president of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore and Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of India. Dean Jeffrey Vitter introduced Prof. Rao, a 1958 Purdue alumnus, who delivered the College of Science Centennial Lecture in Chemistry entitled, “Important aspects of the Chemistry of Nanomaterials”, emphasizing the instrumentation behind these developments.

     The afternoon session started off with a round table discussion on the future of instrumentation moderated by CAID co-Director Prof. Fred Regnier (Purdue). The panel included representatives from the instrumentation industry including Dr. Gus Salem (Agilent), Dr Roy Martin (Waters), Dr. Jim Hager (Sciex), Dr. George Stafford (Thermo Fisher), Dr. Dennis Barket (Griffin/ICx), Dr. Justin Wiseman (Prosolia) and Dr. Randy Julian (Indigo Biosystems). Members of the audience participated in a lively discussion on collaboration between academia and industry.

Discussion panel: from left to right Dr. Gail Cassell (Eli Lilly), Prof Fred Regnier (Purdue), Dr. Gus Salem (Agilent), Dr Roy Martin (Waters), Dr. Jim Hager (Sciex), Dr. George Stafford (Thermo Fisher) Prof. Graham Cooks (Purdue).

From left: Prof. David Hercules (Prof), Prof. Fred Lytle (honoree), Prof. Joel Harris (student)

     Lectures honoring the career of Prof. Fred Lytle were presented by both a former student Prof. Joel Harris, now at the University of Utah, and a former mentor Prof. David Hercules, from Vanderbilt University.

Dr. Karl Koehler (Indiana 21st Century Fund), Prof’s Graham Cooks and Fred Regnier discussing the academic–commercial interface

     The Deputy director of the State of Indiana’s 21st Century Fund, Dr. Karl Koehler, stirred up a lively discussion during the question and answer session following his lecture with the provocative title: “A Convenient Fiction: The Indiana Academic-Commercial Interface”.

     Proceedings concluded with guided tours of the Bindley Bioscience and Birck Nanotechnology Centers which included a tour of the Instrumentation Prototyping laboratory and the mass spectrometry imaging lab, followed by refreshments sponsored by the Purdue School of Science.