ALA Selects $10,000 Innovation Award Winner

The Association for Laboratory Automation (ALA) has announced the winner of the LabAutomation2010, US$10,000 ALA Innovation Award. Ali Khademhosseini, Cambridge, MA, US, Harvard-Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was honored for his podium presentation, Microengineered Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering and Stem Cell Bioengineering.

The winner was announced during the closing plenary session at LabAutomation2010.

The award recognizes the year’s top candidates who present innovative laboratory technologies or new, technological advances and applications as a podium presentation.

This year the Top Candidates for the $10,000 ALA Innovation Award – of which there are 10 – will travel to present their work at AchemAsia, June 2–5, 2010 in Beijing, China.

In addition to the Award, each year ALA recognizes the top new products showcased on the LabAutomation2010 exhibit floor through the New Product Award (NPA) designation. This year’s winners are:

· ArtusLabs – Method Genius

· Beckman Coulter – SPRIworks

· Emerald Biosystems – MPCS Plug Maker

Rounding out the awards presented are the student poster award winners. A limited number of student posters were selected to be presented at the conference and considered for the Student Poster Awards Competition, which results in cash prizes. LabAutomation2010 student poster award winners are:

· 1st Place – Govind Kaigala, Stanford University

"Label-Free Toxin Detection Using Fluorescent Fingerprint Assay"

· 2nd Place – Massimo Alberti, Technical University of Denmark

"Electrical and Fluidic Characterization of a Novel Integrated System for Automatic Patch-Clamp on Cultured Neural Networks"

· 3rd Place – David Sabourin, Technical University of Denmark

"Modular System for Connecting and Actuating Parallel Microfluidic Networks"