Chromatographia (2014) 77:205–206 DOI 10.1007/s10337-014-2629-5

EDITORIAL

Professor Günther K. Bonn 60th Birthday Danilo Corradini 

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

It is a great personal pleasure for me to offer our warmest wishes to Professor Günther Bonn on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Professor Bonn was born on January 15, 1954, in Innsbruck, Austria. He studied chemistry at the Leopold Franzens University of Innsbruck where he received his PhD in 1979 and held various faculty positions becoming Assistant Professor in 1989. During this time he was a Visiting Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering of Yale University working with Professor Csaba Horváth. In 1991, he was appointed Professor for Analytical Chemistry at the Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Austria, and became Head of the Department of Analytical Chemistry. He was appointed Professor for Analytical Chemistry at the Leopold Franzens University of Innsbruck in 1994 where, since 1995, he has been Head of the Institute of Analytical Chemistry and Radiochemistry. Professor Bonn is one of the pioneers of modern bioanalytical chemistry, who has made great contributions to the advancement of separation science and related technologies in the life sciences, phytochemistry, drug discovery, and the early detection of diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and neurodegenerative disorders. His research has covered practically all fields of separation science, including D. Corradini (*)  National Research Council, Institute of Chemical Methodologies, Rome, Italy e-mail: [email protected]

liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, capillary electrochromatography, and their hyphenation to mass spectrometry. Major developments from him include the synthesis of a variety of either silica-based or polymeric materials designed for specific uses, such as micro-devices for sample extraction and enrichment, chromatographic supports for packed or monolithic columns, coating agents for the inner wall of bare fused-silica capillaries employed in CE and energy-adsorbing materials for MALDI/TOF mass spectrometry. Most of these novel materials have been successfully employed for developing new analytical technologies for bioscience research, particularly proteomics and metabolomics. He has also been very productive in developing advanced analytical methods for biomarker research and for the enrichment, separation and characterization of plant extracts. Significant contributions to phytoanalysis from his research group have also been obtained by using vibrational spectroscopy. Over the years, Professor Bonn has not only produced excellent research but has also educated numerous analytical chemists and trained them in the use of the most advanced techniques. He has been the advisor of a large number of Austrian and foreign undergraduates and graduate students and has hosted many postdoctoral and visiting scientists from all over the world, giving them the opportunity to studying and working at the forefront of scientific research in an international and very stimulating environment. In addition to his role as an outstanding scientist and educator, Professor Bonn has held, and continues to hold, important positions on scientific committees. He was a board member of the Fachhochschulrat (Council of Universities of Applied Sciences) and of the Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, the most important Austrian funding organization for basic research. From 2000

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to 2010, he was Vice President of the Austrian Council for Science and Research Development and until 2013, Vice President of the Board of the Innsbruck Medical University. Currently, Professor Bonn is Head of the Institute of Analytical Chemistry and Radiochemistry, University of Innsbruck and since 2006 also Head of the Austrian-Chinese Biomarker Discovery Center in Beijing, China, which is jointly operated by the University of Innsbruck and the University of Beijing. Since 2012, he has been the Scientific Director of the Analytical Division of the Austrian Drug Screening Institute (ADSI) in Innsbruck, which is a new research enterprise of the Leopold Franzens University, combining cell biology and analytical chemical expertise to offer contract screening services to pharmaceutical companies and academic research institutes. Professor Bonn has had connections with industry for many years and leads numerous scientific projects with industrial companies in Austria, USA and elsewhere. For several years, he has served as a member of the scientific advisory board of Bionorica Research GmbH (Germany). He is a widely sought speaker in international symposia and serves on the editorial board of several journals, including Chromatographia, LC-GC Europe, Current Medical Chemistry, Current Analytical Chemistry,

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Bioanalytical Review, and the Journal of Chromatographic Science. Since 2012, he has been one of the Editors of Biomedical Chromatography. As an author he has published more than 350 peer-reviewed research papers, 3 books and 29 patents. In recognition of his significant scientific contributions, he has received numerous awards, including the Halász Medal Award in 2003, the “Ring of Honour” of the Austrian Academy of Science in 2009, the EUSSS Nernst-Tswett Award in 2010, the Csaba Horváth Memorial Award in 2011, and the UK Chromatographic Society Martin Medal in 2013. He holds a private pilot’s licence, he likes playing golf, enjoys good cuisine and spending his free time with his family and friends while indulging in a good glass of wine and a cigar. We join his wife Gabriele (Gabi), his daughter Caroline, his son Alexander (Alex), and his numerous friends and colleagues in wishing Professor Bonn a happy birthday and a continuation of his productive career as a scientist and educator in the years to come.

Danilo Corradini