Covid-19 and Lipids: Key Speakers Announced

We are delighted to announce key speakers for the COVID-19 and lipids session at the 2021 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo. This session is dedicated to research looking at lipid products including lipid soluble vitamins in aiding and treatment for COVID-19. The immune-modulatory properties of eicosapentaenoic (EPA) and docosahexaenoic (DHA) acids, rapidly provided in high amounts by fish-oil emulsions, may be important to change the course of COVID-19's death pathway. This has led to a series of clinical trials. Further there is growing interest in Vitamin D and E, which might also reduce the impact of COVID-19 in populations where deficiency is prevalent.

Key Speakers

Martin Hewison, Professor, University of Birmingham, UK

Vitamin D, immunity and Covid-19

 

Philip C. Calder, Professor of Nutritional Immunology, University of Southampton

Polyunsaturated fatty acids, their lipid mediator derivatives and COVID-19

William Harris, President, Fatty Acid Research Institute

Omega-3 and Covid-19: Potential protective mechanisms

Please join us! The deadline for submissions into this session, and others in the health and nutrition interest area, is January 15, 2021. Do not miss this opportunity to share your research and innovations with researchers from industry, government laboratories and leading academic groups from around the world

Submit your abstract today

Phase Transition and Interfacial Phenomena in Complex Food Systems: Key Speaker Announced

 We are delighted to announce our key speaker for the Phase Transition and Interfacial Phenomena in Complex Food Systems session at the 2021 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo.

The session, organized by Filip Van Bockstaele, Professor, Ghent University, Belgium and Andrew J. Gravelle, Research Associate, University of Guelph, Canada, will focus on the multi-scale structuring of multicomponent foods and its influence on functionality, with particular focus on the role of surfaces and interfaces on relevant phenomena such as phase transitions, rheology and structure formation. Examples discussed will include gels, emulsions and foams. Industry-relevant topics such as clean label formulations, natural ingredients and optimized structure formulation will be discussed.

Key speaker:

Anwesha Sarkar, Chair in Colloids and Surfaces, University of Leeds, UK

Sustainable Particles at Oil-Water Interfaces

 

Please join us! The deadline for submissions into this session, and others in the edible applications technology interest area, is January 15, 2021. Do not miss this opportunity to share your research and innovations with researchers from industry, government laboratories and leading academic groups from around the world.

Submit your abstract today!

Green Chemistry and Oleochemicals: Key Speaker Announced

 We are delighted to announce a key speaker for the Green Chemistry and Oleochemicals session at the 2021 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo.

The session, organized by Helen Ngo, Lead Scientist, USDA, and Majher Sarker, Research Scientist, USDA, covers catalytic processes and novel green chemistry concepts for chemical modifications of fats and oils to create value-added, sustainable or renewable products. It also features novel chemical/biological synthesis, replacement/reduction of environmentally harsh reagents or wastes or use of new feedstocks that promote the sustainability of existing technologies.

Key speaker:

Joseph Stanzione, associate professor, director Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Institute (AMMI), Rowan University

Nature-Inspired Resins for Additive Manufacturing

 

Please join us! The conference is now open for registration. This is only one of the sessions in the industrial oil products interest area. Join industry, government laboratories and leading academic groups from around the world at this important event.

Register Today!

Lipid Oxidation Consequences to Health, Nutrition and Toxicity: Key Speaker Announced

We are delighted to announce the key speaker for the lipid oxidation consequences to health, nutrition and toxicity session at the 2021 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo.

Consequences of lipid oxidation in oils and foods go far beyond rancid odors and flavors to include co-oxidation of food nutrients, decrease in essential fatty acids, impairment with nutrient absorption, interference with the microbiome and function of the gastrointestinal tract, formation of toxic lipids and non-lipid products such as acrylamide and more. This session will introduce less familiar deleterious aspects of lipid oxidation that impact health in various ways.

Key speaker:

Karen Schaich, Professor, Rutgers University

Are lipid oxidation products consumed in foods toxic? If so, where?

 

Please join us! The deadline for submissions into this session, and others in the lipid oxidation and quality interest area and the Health and Nutrition interest area is January 15, 2021. Do not miss this opportunity to share your research and innovations with researchers from industry, government laboratories and leading academic groups from around the world.

Submit your abstract today!

Sustainable Processing and Fractionation for Novel Phospholipids– Including Milkfat, Marine and Plant-Based Phospholipids: Key Speaker Announced

We are delighted to announce our key speaker for the sustainable processing and fractionation for novel phospholipids session at the 2021 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo.

This session will feature papers on novel processing techniques for phospholipids, including solvent extraction and precipitation processes, supercritical processing and chemical derivatization to produce fractions enriched in phospholipids with functional and bioactive properties. We will also feature presentations on enzymatic processes with phospholipases and lipases including esterification reactions with other bioactive polar compounds.

Key speaker:

Tong Wang, Professor, The University of Tennessee at Knoxville

Study of Scalable Processes for Enriching Dairy Phospholipids

 

Please join us! The deadline for submissions into this session, and others in the phospholipids interest area, is January 15, 2021. Do not miss this opportunity to share your research and innovations with researchers from industry, government laboratories and leading academic groups from around the world.

Submit your abstract today!

Analysis of Less Abundant Lipids: Key Speakers Announced

We are delighted to announce the first key speakers for the Analysis of Less Abundant Lipids session at the 2021 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo

This session, chaired by Kim Ekroos, Chief Technology Officer, Zora Biosciences, Finland, and Francesca Giuffrida, Group leader of Lipid Analytics, Nestlé Research Center, Switzerland, focuses on the analysis of low abundant lipid classes such as glycolipids, sphingolipids in edible oils, fats and matrices containing these fats. Presentations will include topics related to analytical methodologies and sample preparation.

Key speakers:

Federico Tesio Torta, Research Assistant Professor, Singapore Lipidomics Incubator (SLING), National University of Singapore.

Using reference materials to generate biological reference ranges in lipidomics

Kuniyuki Kano, Assistant Professor, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo

Development of an on-tissue derivatization method for MALDI mass spectrometry imaging of bioactive lipids containing phosphate monoester using Phos-tag

 

Please join us! The deadline for submissions into this session, and others in the Analytical interest area, is January 15, 2021. Do not miss this opportunity to share your research and innovations with researchers from industry, government laboratories and leading academic groups from around the world

Submit your abstract today!

Fundamentals of Fat Crystallization: Key Speakers Announced

We are delighted to announce key speakers for the fundamentals of fat crystallization session at the 2021 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo. 

Crystallization is one of the cornerstones of lipid chemistry and a critical issue in food processing and manufacturing. This session discusses the fundamentals of fat crystallization through basic principles, recent findings, the latest analytical tools, modelling and simulation. 

Key speakers:

Alejandro Marangoni, Professor, Canada Research Chair, University of Guelph, Canada

The fundamentals of fat crystallization

Giuseppe Milano,  Professor, Yamagata University, Japan

A molecular view of crystallization process of triglycerides

Gianfranco Mazzanti, Associate Professor, Dalhousie University, Canada

Prenucleation structuring in liquid triacylglycerols: navigating a nonideal landscape

Join us! The deadline for submissions into this session, and others in the Edible Applications Technology (EAT) interest area, is January 15, 2021. Do not miss this opportunity to share your research and innovations with researchers from industry, government laboratories and leading academic groups from around the world!

Submit your abstract today

Biobased Surfactants: Key Speakers Announced

We are delighted to announce the key speakers for the Biobased Surfactants session at the 2021 AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo. The session will be chaired by George A. Smith, Research Associate, Sasol, USA and Douglas G. Hayes, Professor of Biosystems Engineering, University of Tennessee, USA

Interest in biobased surfactants continues to increase. This session focuses on research and development of biobased surfactants in detergents, personal care products, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, foods, environmental remediation and other applications.

Key speakers:

Dimitris Collias, Research Fellow, Procter & Gamble Co, USA,

Production of Fatty Alcohols from Biomass-derived Chemicals Using Chemo-catalytic and Bio-catalytic Pathways

Samiul Amin, Associate Professor, Manhattan College, USA,

Formulation design of high performance biosurfactant based personal care products

Please join us! The deadline for submissions into this session, and others in the surfactants and detergents interest area, is January 15, 2021. Do not miss this opportunity to share your research and innovations with researchers from industry, government laboratories and leading academic groups from around the world.

Submit your abstract today

Congratulations to newly minted Emeritus AOCS member: Ian Newton

Each year the AOCS Governing Board has the honor of approving long-term members for Emeritus status. Emeritus Members are those members who either meet qualifications for Retired Member and have completed 35 years of membership in the Society or are Retired Members who have served as a past President, won the AOCS Award of Merit winner or A.R. Baldwin Distinguished Service Award winner and have been accepted as an Emeritus Member with the approval of two-thirds of the Governing Board.

AOCS membership dues are free for the rest of Emeritus members' lives. 

In 2021, 16 long-term members achieved Emeritus membership, which serves as recognition for the hard work and dedication to AOCS. To close out the year, we will be spotlighting many of them. 

Meet Ian Newton

A brief biography: Ian Newton of CERES Consulting was born and received his education in New Zealand, graduating with an Honours Science Degree in Botany and Zoology. Following post-graduate agricultural research, he relocated to Canada.

Following a career in crop agriculture, Ian joined Hoffmann-La Roche in 1979 holding a variety of positions including in Human Nutrition, Canada and eventually Director of Business Development and Regulatory Affairs, DSM Nutritional Products, USA.  He was responsible for the business development of various nutrients, and new ingredients, including LC fatty acids in the late 1990s, and the introduction of Roche/DSM Long Chain fatty acid products to USA/Canada, now encompassing, ocean nutrition marine oils and Martek ARA and DHA algal products. 

Now retired from DSM, Ian manages his consulting business, Ceres Consulting, based in Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada, specializing in business and product development in the health and nutrition sector. He also consults internationally for governments and global organizations. Ian continues to actively participate in many areas of human nutrition and is a member of the AOCS and ISSFAL, and is keenly involved in advising health-oriented companies.  He is a partner in the Nutrition Capital Network and The Editorial Advisory Board of the Nutrition Business Journal.

A recognized information source on nutritional lipids and active in this field for over thirty years he has published on the nutritional aspects of vitamins, long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids and nutritional ingredients in a variety of scientific and trade journals and a speaker at national and international nutrition conferences and symposia. 

Can you tell us about your current or past research?

Past research includes crop production of rapeseed, presentations on the benefits of nutritional fatty acids, from infants to the elderly, reviews on the health benefits of vitamins, carotenoids, in human nutrition. Developments in protecting oxidation in LC FA and presenting at various trade and nutrition conferences on the inclusion of FA in foods and supplements for manufacturers and marketers.  

What was your reaction when you learned you had been made an emeritus member?

I was very surprised, since I have not been so active in nutritional lipids in recent years, but I suppose I have still been attending key conferences in nutrition with a focus on fatty acids.

Can you share your favorite memory or story from your AOCS membership?

Meeting and discussing with many of the key researchers in fatty acid nutrition such as Dyerberg,  Leaf,  Uauy, Lands, Salem, Koletzko, Simopolous and many others, as the science, interest and use of LC fatty acids grew dramatically in the early 2000s with so many differing aspects. Ultimately, government recommendations have followed to the benefit of all.

Learn more about different types of AOCS membership.

Congratulations to newly minted Emeritus AOCS member: Jerry W King

Each year the AOCS Governing Board has the honor of approving long-term members for Emeritus status. Emeritus Members are those members who either meet qualifications for Retired Member and have completed 35 years of membership in the Society or are Retired Members who have served as a past President, won the AOCS Award of Merit winner or A.R. Baldwin Distinguished Service Award winner and have been accepted as an Emeritus Member with the approval of two-thirds of the Governing Board.

AOCS membership dues are free for the rest of Emeritus members' lives. 

In 2021, 16 long-term members achieved Emeritus membership, which serves as recognition for the hard work and dedication to AOCS. To close out the year, we will be spotlighting many of them. 

Meet Dr. Jerry King

A brief biography: Dr. King has over 55 years of experience in the field of chemistry, chemical engineering and food technology. He has worked in government, industrial, academic and consulting environments. Dr. King has published over 275 documents, including government reports and holds three patents. He is world renown for his expertise and contributions to supercritical fluid (CO₂) technology in the fields of food, botanical and natural product processing as well as analytical chemistry and materials science (i.e. packaging, coatings, surface modification and CO₂-based cleaning processes). Since 2013, Dr. King has had a focus on consulting, education, and R&D (CFS) related to the natural products and cannabis industries. He is a recognized expert in the fields of extraction, chemistry and the latest CO₂ processing technology and has made numerous presentations at many science & engineering conferences.

Can you tell us about your current or past research?

CFS (Jerry King) is an R&D LLC Consultancy currently located in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  CEO-Jerry King, Ph.D., provides consulting services particularly in the areas of sub- and super-critical fluid processing (i.e., extraction) and similar pressurized fluid processing, using environmentally benign (green) solvents – including water, ethanol and GRAS-approved media.  Dr. King has over 55 years of experience in the above subject areas, dating back to 1968, as well as a multi-disciplinary background encompassing the areas of physical/analytical chemistry, chemical and food engineering, food technology and industrial applied experience in polymer-packaging and surface chemistry.  CFS (Critical Fluid Symposia), takes its title from the 10th International Symposium on Supercritical Fluids (ISSF), for which Dr. King as chairman, organized in 2012. Dr. King's overall extended expertise is in the general area of separation science – both process and analytical, with a particular focus in all aspects of chromatography, including the use of physicochemical chromatography (inverse chromatography) to generate requisite data for engineering design and scale-up.

Dr. King utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to solve a diversity of problems that benefit from his experience involving equal amounts of industrial, governmental, and academic experience.  For 16.5 years, he was the Lead Scientist in the High-Pressure Laboratory at the ARS-USDA, in Peoria, IL, running the High-Pressure Laboratory’s supercritical fluid program, as applied in the sectors of food, natural products, bioenergy, regulatory chemistry and nutraceuticals.  He offers additional experience in the use of compressed water (subcritical water) from his R&D programs at both the USDA and as a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville. Since 2013, he has extensively focused on providing consulting services also to the cannabis and hemp industry with regard to processing technology and analytical chemistry. Dr. King lectures widely at many national and international meetings and courses and provides tailored instructional short courses to organizations requiring training/background in the above topical areas.

What was your reaction when you learned you had been made an emeritus member?

Delighted at having achieved this status and honor. 

Can you share your favorite memory or story from your AOCS membership?

Some of my favorite memories connect to several articles about my activities and research being published in INFORM; I also have fond memories of becoming an AOCS Fellow and a winner of the Herbert Dutton Award (Analytical Division) and co-editing two books for AOCS Press.

Learn more about different types of AOCS membership.

A recap of the Membership Midweek Mixer hosted by the Edible Applications (EAT) Division

This week EAT Division leaders, Kaustuv Bhattacharya of DuPont Nutrition & Health and Andrew Gravelle of the University of Guelph, hosted a social gathering for edible applications technology professionals to connect and learn more about their AOCS member benefits.

Attendees got an overview of aocs.org, inform|connect along with a variety of AOCS communications and resources like INFORM magazine, the journals and the webinar archive.

Congratulations to our iPad prize winner Amanda Wright!

AOCS welcomes ideas for future Midweek Mixers. Submit your idea here.

Visit the Midweek Mixer page on aocs.org to join the next Midweek Mixer!

Congratulations to LPP Award winner Trevor Meredith and to Solbar Food Technologies, Ashdod, Israel

AOCS is proud to recognize the top performers of the Laboratory Proficiency Program. LPP Award Winners are among the top 10% of analysts in their field. We commend them for their dedication to conducting rigorous analyses in the lab.

Trevor Meredith, Solbar Food Technologies, receives the AOCS LPP award

Solbar has been using the services of AOCS for more than 30 years. The company has used the Laboratory Proficiency Program to improve and maintain the accuracy of analytical results generated by its QA laboratory. Over the years, this has allowed the company to enhance the accuracy of its system and to maintain the quality of both its production processes and products. The QA Laboratory at Solbar was the birthplace of Cannassure Therapeutics (TASE: CSURE), now producing safe, consistent, stable cannabis tinctures. 

Since becoming a member, Solbar has also attended the AOCS Annual Meetings & Expos for many years. Dr. Meredith reports that the meetings have been an important source of information and offered a chance to meet and learn from leading experts in our industry. His organization has also benefited from the AOCS Lab Services.

“The ability to use AOCS methods and obtain accurate results has also been the basis for expansion of our laboratory,” he says. “This has allowed us to analyze other extracts and products also produced on site, such as Cannabis oils and Saffron.”

Solbar looks forward to many more years of support by AOCS in maintaining its position as a leader in the production of high-quality soy products for both the food and feed markets in Israel.

 

Request for participants in a collaborative trial

Request for participants in a collaborative trial

 ISO NP 20948: Animal and vegetable fats and oils — Determination of aflatoxin B1, B2, G1, G2 in vegetable oils by high performance liquid chromatography and immunoaffinity column cleanup

ISO NP 20948 was cancelled in March 2019 due to lack of progress. Subsequent collaboration with AOAC as well as support by a new member body (SAC) and project leadership to develop the method was established. The NWIP Ballot was therefore initiated to re-establish the project and was approved (N 1554) in Sept 2020. The AOAC method needs revision and updating to include international validation data as well as to extend to other oil types.

The SAC mirror Committee on Oils and Fats is therefore calling for participants for a collaborative study to provide international validation data on additional oil types. The project, in brief, will entail the following:

• Pre-trial:             Four test samples are expected to be dispatched by February 2021.  Results are to be reported within two week after sample arrival.
• Main trial:          Either 32 or 34 test samples (depending on availability) to be dispatched by June 2021 to conduct the main test.  Each sample is to be analysed for AFTB1, AFTB2, AFTG1 and AFTG2.  Results are to be reported by July 2021.

Laboratories who are interested in taking part in the international validation of this method should contact Project Leader, Ping Jing, at jingdaping@126.com by latest 30 December 2020.

Congratulations to newly minted Emeritus AOCS member: Albert Dijkstra

Each year the AOCS Governing Board has the honor of approving long-term members for Emeritus status. Emeritus Members are those members who either meet qualifications for Retired Member and have completed 35 years of membership in the Society or are Retired Members who have served as a past President, won the AOCS Award of Merit winner or A.R. Baldwin Distinguished Service Award winner and have been accepted as an Emeritus Member with the approval of two-thirds of the Governing Board.

AOCS membership dues are free for the rest of Emeritus members' lives. 

In 2021, 16 long-term members achieved Emeritus membership, which serves as recognition for the hard work and dedication to AOCS. To close out the year, we will be spotlighting many of them. 

Meet Albert Dijkstra

A brief biography: After my Ph.D. in Leyden, the Netherlands in gas kinetics, I started to work for Imperial Chemical Industry in research in the United Kingdom, as a chief chemist at the Rozenburg Works, the Netherlands, and as a senior R&D project leader at ICI Europa in Belgium. In 1978, I joined the Vandemoortele Group, a vertically integrated, family-owned oils and fats company in Belgium, as R&D Director.  This work led to a dozen patents in the fields of interesterification, degumming, neutralization, fractionation of triglycerides and phosphatides, and frying oils. When this company sold its oil mills and refineries, its R&D laboratory was disbanded and I started to work at home as a consultant, author, editor and lecturer at Short Courses. These courses were often before a conference, so I continued to attend these conferences and regularly presented papers. So, I kept up to date with the developments in edible oil processing.

Can you tell us about your current or past research?

Gas kinetics involves a mathematical approach to chemical phenomena. It is therefore not surprising that my past and current research reflects this mathematical approach:

1. I designed a system for linear programming of fat blends that saved my employer more than my R&D laboratory cost.
2. After we established that a dry filter cake still contained 70% liquid oil, I developed a dry fractionation process by removing this oil centrifugally. This provided CBE grade fractions.
3. I suggested a mechanism of the hydrogenation of triglyceride oils after demonstrating experimentally that the hydrogen concentration is not constant but increases during a run.
4. I reinterpreted the literature data of the copper-catalyzed hydrogenation and suggested a novel mechanism as a result.
5. I found fault with the commonly accepted mechanism of the base-catalyzed interesterification reaction and suggested a mechanism that takes care of these shortcomings.
6. I extended this mechanism to the transesterification process to produce biodiesel.
7. I provided mathematical proof that a partially interesterified reaction mixture can also be arrived at by mixing the starting reaction mixture with the randomized reaction product.
8. I provided an Excel spreadsheet that allows the composition of an interesterification mixture of triglycerides, glycerol and propylene glycol to be calculated while taking esterification preferences into account.
9. By determining the Oil Stability Index (OSI) of a large number of two-component blends, I could arrive at the conclusion that this OSI is only determined by the fatty acid composition of the blend and the antioxidant contents of the components.  

What was your reaction when you learned you had been made an emeritus member?

I was elated, told my wife and then immediately sent an email to my children.

Can you share your favorite memory or story from your AOCS membership?

I really enjoyed the barbecue held during the AOCS annual meeting in Phoenix. I met several people there (Ted Mag, Monoj Gupta, Werner Zschau and others) with whom I engaged in heated discussions and with whom I kept in contact for a long time. We were always glad to meet again at AOCS annual meetings.

Another instance was my presentation during the Budapest AOCS World Conference in 1992 about the degumming, neutralization and drying of oils. It was very well received, and many people came to see me afterward.

Learn more about different types of AOCS membership.

Lipids saving the world

 

Lipids saving the world

The world let out a small sigh of relief earlier this week as the first COVID-19 vaccine was approved for use in the UK. The end of the tunnel is in sight – and lipids are playing a significant role.

To date vaccines have used deactivated virus or viral proteins to elicit the immune response. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is different – it is a strand of messenger RNA (mRNA). Once injected into the arm it enters cells and provides instructions to make a fragment of a protein that exists on the surface of the COVID-19 virus (shown as red protrusions on the iconic COVID-19 image above).  That fragment is exported to the surface of the cell where it is recognized as ‘foreign’ by the immune system and destroyed. Having seen several of these foreign protein fragments the immune system creates antibody-producing cells primed to tag this fragment. When any COVID-19 virus enters the body, it is immediately tagged and destroyed. The person has gained immunity.

But there is an obvious problem with this approach: mRNA belongs inside cells. Any that gets out is recognized by the immune system and destroyed. Without some sort of protection or cloaking device the mRNA vaccine has little chance of delivering its instructions. This is where the lipids enter the story. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is formulated with a carefully chosen mixture of lipids and surfactants. The mRNA is encapsulated in a double layer of lipids – a lipidosome – that is invisible to the body’s natural defense systems. Optimizing the lipid mixture and encapsulation is a significant part of the drug development work.

Lipidsomes are already used to package drugs such as the cholesterol-lowering medicines Repatha and Praluent and the chemotherapy Doxil so they can get to their targets with fewer unwanted side effects. But the providing sufficient high purity lipid to lift the threat of COVID-19 from the world – and identifying and producing lipid mixtures for future drugs and vaccines once this inherently faster approach to vaccine development is established - this may provide an interesting challenge for lipid researchers & suppliers as they continue to help save the world. 

Related News

AOCS Corporate Member Croda has agreed a five-year deal with Pfizer to supply high purity lipids used as vaccine excipients – including their COVID-19 vaccine: https://www.croda.com/en-gb/news/2020/11/pfizer-croda

Midweek Mixers so far!

Upcoming Mixers | Past Mixers

Midweek Mixers have taken off and if you have not yet joined one, you should!! These events are designed to be a fun space for you to connect with new and long-time colleagues over technical topics, common interests, your AOCS member benefits and more!

No matter where you are in the world, no matter the time of year, we want you to have a space to connect with fellow AOCS community members with common interests. Whether you want to learn, network, collaborate, engage in business development or just socialize with colleagues to unwind, Midweek Mixers are your destination.

Registration is free. You will receive instructions for how to join the Mixer after you register. You do not have to be a member of AOCS to participate, so feel free to invite your colleagues and friends.

Read on to learn what Midweek Mixers AOCS we have on the horizon and the Mixers we have hosted so far. 

To keep fully up to date, be sure to check the new AOCS Midweek Mixers page on aocs.org.

December's Upcoming Midweek Mixer

EAT Division leaders, Kaustuv Bhattacharya of DuPont Nutrition & Health and Andrew Gravelle of the University of Guelph will host a social gathering for AOCS members to network, connect and learn to navigate your AOCS member benefits!  

Register for this Mixer, which will occur on December 8 at 8 a.m. CST (UTC–06/Chicago, USA).

The theme for this Mixer will be seasonal recipes — it is after all hosted by the EAT Division. Whatever season it is where you are, what do you like to make/bake/cook for yourself, family, friends and loved ones! Bonus points if you bring a dish that is rich in fats, oils and/or proteins! 

Come prepared to tell us what you hope to get out of EAT Division membership or, if you are a long-time member, what you have found valuable about your EAT Division membership. 

By attending this Mixer, you will be entered to win an iPad!

This Midweek Mixer will occur on December 8 at 8 a.m. CST (UTC–06/Chicago, USA). Registration is free for all, including those who are not AOCS members! Invite friends and colleagues to network with other AOCS and EAT Division members and get to know AOCS more generally.

*Domestic winners only. If an international winner is selected, an equivalent prize will be awarded. Must be present at time of drawing to win.

______________________________________________________________________________

Past Midweek Mixers

Let’s talk about your edible oil sample preparation struggles - a conversation with Lovibond

Hosted: September 23, 2020

Lovibond, this Midweek Mixer’s host, kicked off the event with a round of edible oils trivia. Then, Mixer attendees engaged in a conversation about what can reduce measurement interference such as sample preparation, sample temperature, contaminated or damaged sample cells, instrument maintenance and cleanliness, cell path length relative to color scale and incorrect color scale for verification.   

Mixer highlights include:

• Rick DellaPorta "winning" the Midweek Mixer trivia game
• Emphasis on the all-important issue of cleaning cuvettes and the effect of temperature on possible measurement aberrations
• A discussion over sources for healthy alternative oils

October Monthly Membership Midweek Mixer

Hosted: October 13, 2020

AOCS hosted its first orientation to AOCS for new members in this recent Midweek Mixer. AOCS member hosts Leann Barden and Steve Hill were a hit, helping members connect even in our fully remote times. 

Mixer highlights:

• An overview of AOCS, including aocs.org, inform|connect as well as a variety of AOCS communications
• A chance to get to know all who joined the Mixer
• Yixiang Wang won an AOCS glass beaker tumbler
• Priscilla Costa won an AOCS flask mug

How peer reviewing can help you professionally!

Hosted: November 2, 2020

The peer-review process is an important step for improving research paper quality; however, less is known about the standardized review process. This Mixer hosted by the Student Common Interest Group provided a platform for attendees to share their reviewing experiences and ask questions about how to get involved, best review practices and more. Other topics that were discussed include how to balance research and reviewing and the benefits of reviewing are professionally and intellectually. This Mixer was both an informative session on how peer reviewing can enhance professional development and an opportunity for attendees to network with peers also interested in journal reviewing.

Mixer highlights include:

• Dr. Hayes, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Surfactants and Detergents, and Dr. Kenar, Editor-in Chief of Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society, sharing some insights into why they value peer reviewing
• Great questions from Jieyao Yuan, Yang Lan and Hongbing Fan that helped clarify how students and young professionals can begin peer reviewing
• Pam Landman, AOCS Journals Coordinator, providing insights about how to get involved with peer reviewing for AOCS journals

November’s Membership Midweek Mixer

Hosted: November 10, 2020

Janet Brown, Director of Membership, AOCS and Katrina Gaffney, AOCS Communication Specialist provided attendees an overview of AOCS resources. Then hosts Rick Theiner and Jill Moser helped attendees get to know each other by facilitating introductions. 

Mixer highlights include:

• An overview of AOCS, including aocs.org, inform|connect as well as a variety of AOCS communications and AOCS resources like INFORM magazine, the journals and the webinar archive
• A chance to get to know all who joined the Mixer
• Muhammad Elsorady and J. David Pinkston winning this Mixer’s prizes

Mix it Up: A Midweek Mixer for surfactants and detergents professionals!

Hosted: November 17, 2020

AOCS' Surfactants and Detergents (S&D) Division hosted a social gathering for surfactants and detergents professionals to network and connect and learn more about how AOCS can help you grow professionally beyond technical services and annual meetings with opportunities for collaboration, business development and continuing education. Attendees came with your favorite drink whether that was an iced latte, a cocktail or a mocktail and S&D Division leaders, Keith Genco of Arkema, Michael Williams of Evonik and Sanja Natali of Exxon Mobil welcomed new and familiar faces to the event.

Nearly 30 people from around the globe, even as far as Japan, attended and provided details about their area of expertise, affiliations and connected with familiar and new colleagues

• Fred Holzhauer was this Mixer's grand prize winner!
• S&D Division Session Chairs encouraged attendees to submit abstracts for both oral and e-poster sessions
• Chair Keith Genco strongly encouraged this group to continue collaborating with one another as a way to build the next generation of technology
• Attendees took a fun photo with pets to conclude the get together

We hope to see you at the next Mixer! Stay up to date on the AOCS Midweek Mixers page.