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45781-SE
Biocatalysis in Polymer Science, at the ACS National Meeting, September 2006, San Francisco, CA

Richard A. Gross, Polytechnic University

Report on the Symposium on “Biocatalysis in Polymer Science”

Organizers: R. A. Gross and H. N. Cheng

Dates of Symposium: September 11-14, 2006

Conference and Location: National ACS Meeting, San Francisco, CA

Description of the Symposium:

Biocatalysis and biomaterials are dynamic areas of research that have continued to attract a lot of attention. Developments in these areas are largely fueled by demands for sustainable technologies, a desire to decrease our dependence on petroleum, and commercial opportunities to develop ‘green' products. Publications and patents in these fields continue to grow as more people are involved in research and commercial activities.

Since research is being carried out in academia, industry, and government labs, albeit with different emphases, it would be useful and timely to bring together the researchers in these labs in order to provide a valuable update of this area from different perspectives and promote collaboration. This symposium was organized by R. A. Gross and H. N. Cheng at the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts on September 1114, 2006. Many exciting new techniques and findings were reported at that symposium. It is pertinent to note that the two symposium organizers are, respectively, from academia and from industry.

The symposium covered the following topics:

1) Tutorials

2) New Tools for Polymer Synthesis

3) Protein Engineering and Enzyme Modifications

4) Polysaccharides

5) Polyester Synthesis and Degradation

6) New Materials

The final program of the symposium consisted of 6 oral sessions, plus a poster session. There were a total of 36 talks and 8 posters. These were very well received by the attendees. The attendees also interacted with one another and talked informally. In addition, the first session consisted of six tutorial lectures and helped to set the tone for the symposium and bring everyone up to speed.

The final program of the symposium is attached. The attendance varied from 30 - 70 people for the most part of the symposium. At the outset, the attendance was highest (around 70 people). On Thursday afternoon (the last day of the ACS meeting), the attendance dipped to below 30.

Based on this symposium, the organizers produced a symposium volume to be soon published as ACS Symposium Series Number 999.

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