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The Ecotas Forum is a microchemistry users’ group organized by Protasis
Corporation. Ecotas brings
together forward-thinking researchers, engineers and applications
chemists from around the world who are avidly committed to developing
component technologies that will be integrated into miniaturized
instruments for industrial and environmental process monitoring.
In
a world bent on making things smaller, smarter and faster, tomorrow’s
technological breakthroughs demand more than a compelling vision and a
sense of the possible. To
succeed, the vision and sense of possibility must be backed by the kind
of creative firepower and missionary zeal that only comes when people
love what they do. Recognizing
this, Protasis
created Ecotas with the intent of
attracting scientists and engineers who care passionately about what they do and
are aggressively seeking opportunities to bring their inventive ideas
out of the lab and into the marketplace.
By focusing on building a network of “meta-designers”, Protasis
hopes to ignite a chemistry microchip revolution of
“design wins.” To
do this, Protasis
promotes member collaboration in two key ways—first, by providing a
needed focal point for designers to meet and discuss their ideas.
An internet message board
and resource page facilitate information-sharing among members as does an
annual meeting which features speakers on different aspects of
microanalytics. At these yearly gatherings, members also have an opportunity
to plan and develop new projects and technology. Second,
in many instances, Protasis provides
members with critical funding and and other needed resources to
commercialize their discoveries. Currently, various Ecotas members are partnering with our staff to develop leading-edge technology for sensitive, high-resolution screening of target molecules in complex mixtures at their point of use. Specifically, they’re seeking to embed miniaturized analytics into a wide range of on-line processes in industrial, environmental and pharmaceutical markets. In
pursuit of this ambitious goal, a virtual community of Ecotas participants, working in cross-disciplinary teams, is: ·
Building
miniaturized separation systems (deliverables are analyzers, probes and
sensors); ·
Developing
microfabrication competencies (deliverables are miniaturized
components): and ·
Developing
electrochromatography (CEC) (deliverables are methods, chemistries and
packing procedures); By
participating, Ecotas members
gain access to biochips and microcomponents to advance their own
research. Protasis,
in turn, benefits by delivering automated monitoring instruments to a
broader set of real-world processes. Initially
organized as a small meeting at Waters
Corporation in
1998, Ecotas has since grown to about 40 members.
Last year’s get-together, held in tandem with the International
Society of Chromatograhers (ISC) meeting in London, featured eight of
the Forum’s leading-edge innovators in MEMS technology. If
you’re interested in joining the Ecotas
Forum, register and post
a message on our discussion board or send us an email at ecotas@protasis.com.
Watch this space for more information about future meetings and research
highlights from our consortia. |
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*** Ecotas meetings occur once per year, attached to capillary technology conferences. 1998 Waters 1999 Blue Sky Ranch 2000 London 2001 ?
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