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AN INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM OF PER- AND POLYFLUOROALKYL SUBSTANCES (PFAS)

FLUOROS 2023

An International Symposium on Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances – PFAS

Idstein, Germany • August 31 – September 1, 2023

Oral and poster abstract submission starting from March 15th;
Oral abstract submission deadline: May 31st, 2023
Poster abstract submission deadline: June 15th, 2023

Submit abstracts at:


PFAS Symposium

Idstein, Germany • August 30th, 2023

Register now with Early Bird until May 31

SUBMIT ORAL AND POSTER ABSTRACTS NOW

Please remember to submit abstracts for poster presentations by June 15th, 2023

Submitting of abstracts for oral presentation ends by May 31st, 2023

Please note the abstract formats:

Contributions on the following themes are invited to supplement the plenary lectures listed below.

CONFERENCE THEMES

  • Modern analytic instrumentation
  • Applications of modern mass spectrometric techniques
  • Structure elucidation
  • Detection of PFAS at ultra-trace concentrations
  • Non-Target Analysis: Identification of unknown compounds as transformation products of photolysis and   hydrolysis or biodegradation
  • Total Fluorine Analysis (Fluorine Mass Balance)
  • Development of computational models to predict properties
  • Environmental persistence of PFAS
  • Various pathways of human and environmental exposure
  • Contribution to levels of PFAS in the environment and to human exposure
  • Improved application
  • Monitoring the environmental processes and their global distribution
  • Bioaccumulation
  • New PFAS and their (eco)toxicological effects
  • Description of the metabolic actions in biological systems
  • Toxicological risks of PFAS
  • Levels in cohorts
  • Effects on humans
  • Mechanism of toxicity  
  • Treatments Techniques
  • Circular Economy
  • Infrastructure
  • Upstream development of alternatives
  • Biodegradation
  • Remediation
  • Latest developments in the field of assessment, eco labelling and regulation
  • EU`s Restriction Proposal
  • International regulatory developments

Tentative Program

Program Oral Presentations – Symposium “Fluoros 23″ City Hall Idstein

Our Sponsors

The FLUOROS 2023 Organizing Committee

Thomas P.  Knepper
Hochschule Fresenius, Germany
Chair

Prof. Dr. Thomas P. Knepper is Vice President Research and Research Funding as well as Director of the Institute for Analytical Research at the Hochschule Fresenius gGmbH (HSF) in Idstein/Germany. His main fields of research include water chemistry and technology, analytical chemistry, polymer analysis, food safety, forensic analysis. Specific interests are dealing with mass spectrometry techniques and elucidation of transformation pathways. He and his group are working in the field of PFASs analysis, monitoring in various matrices and studying transformation behavior for more than 20 years. He has organized already several successful international symposia on PFAS in Idstein.

Ian Cousins
Stockholm University, Sweden
Chair

Ian Cousins is Professor of Environmental Chemistry at the Department of Environmental Science, Stockholm University. He is also coordinator of the PERFORCE3 project. Prof. Cousins’ research comprises a combination of experimental and modelling approaches to investigate the sources, transport, fate and exposure of PFAS, and other chemicals. Prof Cousins was previously co-chair of the Helsingør International Workshop on Fluorinated Compounds in 2013 and co-chair of the SETAC North America Focused Topic Meeting on PFAS held in Durham, North Carolina in 2019.

Lutz Ahrens
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Jonathan Benskin
Stockholm University, Sweden

Albert Bräuning
BFR, Germany

Dorte Herzke
NILU, Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Norway

Mélanie Lauria
Stockholm University, Sweden

Mélanie Lauria is a PhD student working at Stockholm University, Sweden. She is the early stage researchers’ representative within the European Innovative Training Network PERFORCE3 and her research focuses on novel analytical tools for the characterisation of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances.

Pim Leonards
VU Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Martin Scheringer
ETH Zürich, Switzerland

Christoph Schulte
UBA, Germany

Annemarie van Wezel
University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Prof. Dr Annemarie van Wezel is an experienced environmental scientist in water quality, risk assessment, environmental toxicology and chemistry, and environmental policy. She was granted many projects in the field of chemicals of emerging concern and water quality. She is interested in the science-to-policy interface, in scientific outreach and engagement with end-users of knowledge. In her work, she likes to combine organizational and content roles. She is a member of the Dutch Health Council and the Dutch Board on authorization of plant protection products and biocides CTGB. She holds the chair Environmental Ecology and is Scientific Director of IBED (Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics) at the University of Amsterdam.

Stephan Wagner
Hochschule Fresenius, Germany

Stephan Wagner is the deputy head of the Institute for Analytical Research at the Fresenius University of Applied Sciences in Idstein, Germany. He is an experienced researcher in exposure and environmental fate of a wide range of anthropogenic substances, such as particulates (colloids, microplastics) as well as inorganic and organic chemicals. He was involved in a leading role as work package leader or co-coordinator in numerous national and international research projects. He is active in several working groups of the German Chemical Society (Working groups on microplastics, PMT substances and nanomaterials in food) as well as in standardization activities of the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) for microplastic sampling and spectroscopic analysis.

    Invited SPEAKERS (in presenting order)

    Valentina Bertato (EC)
    Opening

    Valentina Bertato has been working in the European Commission since 2011, dealing mainly with chemicals policy. She is currently focusing on REACH restrictions for environmental risks (including microplastics, lead and PFAS) and on international work on chemicals. Her background is in environmental chemistry. Her previous working experiences are on technical and regulatory issues of chemicals, waste management and environmental management systems.

    Specifically on PFAS, she is the main author of the PFAS action plan, which is included in the European Commission Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability. She is working on the REACH restrictions on PFAS and on the proposals for listing in the Stockholm Convention. She is closely following all developments related to PFAS in the different EU legislations.

    Scott Mabury
    Professor of Environmental Chemistry & Vice-President of Operations and Real Estate Partnerships, University of Toronto

    Exploring the Fate, Disposition, and Persistence of organofluorine chemicals has been the major areas of research focus since ~1990. We use a suite of “reactors” including rats, smog chambers, soils, sunlit water, fish, etc to explore kinetics and reaction pathways with particular focus on reactive intermediates with potential for toxicity.  We synthesize what we need to for identification and further experimentation and frequently develop specialized analytical methods. Objective is to better understand chemical pollution while also using these “pollutants” as chemical probes to enhance our understanding of the natural world. Awards include the CIC Environment R&D award, the 2015 ISI Most Highly Cited (Ecology & Evolution), and multiple teaching awards (LIFT, OCUFA, A&S); current H-factor (72 WOS; 75 Scopus).  Other passions include building soil health aka farming (corn, canola, soybeans, wheat, adzuki beans, hay).

    PFAS Today…what has been done and what still needs to be done

    Anna Kärrman
    Associate Professor in chemistry Man-Technology-Environment Research Centre School of Science and Technology
    Örebro University, Sweden

    Anna Kärrman is an associate professor in chemistry at Örebro University, Sweden. She has studied PFAS since 2002 and focus on analytical methods, distribution in the environment, sources, and human exposure. Her main research agenda is to develop relevant and sensitive methods for characterization of contaminants of emerging concern and to unravel the identity of drivers of toxicity.

    The PFAS analytical toolbox – challenges and possibilities.

    Carrie A. McDonough, Ph.D.
    Carnegie Mellon Univ. Pittsburgh, USA

    Carrie McDonough is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University. She received her B. Sc. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography. Her research resides at the intersection of environmental analytical chemistry, environmental health engineering, and chemical biology. She is interested in understanding how organic contaminants impact aquatic ecosystems and human health, with an emphasis on chronic exposures to complex environmentally-relevant mixtures. She is currently working on several projects focused on the toxicokinetics of PFAS mixtures and comprehensive high-resolution mass spectrometry approaches to PFAS biomonitoring. 

    Tackling the complexity of PFASs: From external exposure to internal dose 

    Kristina Jakobsson
    Univ. Gothenburg, Sweden

    Kristina Jakobsson, MD, PhD, is a professor in clinical environmental medicine at the unit of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

    Over the years, her research has covered occupational respiratory diseases and occupational cancer, air pollution and health and environmental exposures to persistent pollutants. Internationally, she is engaged in research on the long-term health effects of working in heat, focusing on kidney disease. Since 2014 she has been the PI for a series of studies on health effects after very high exposure to PFAS in a Swedish municipality.

    Research, risk evaluation and risk communication. Experiences from a PFAS hot spot in Sweden.  

    Chris Higgins
    School of Mines Colorado, USA

    Christopher P. Higgins is an environmental chemist at the Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Higgins’ received his A.B. in Chemistry from Harvard University, and graduate degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University. He joined Mines in 2009, attaining the title of University Distinguished Professor in 2022. He was the recipient of the 2019 Huber Prize in Civil Engineering Research awarded by the American Society of Civil Engineers, and was the lead Principal Investigator for the 2020 Environmental Restoration Project of the Year for the U.S. DoD’s Strategic Environmental Research & Development Program. His research focuses on the movement of contaminants in the environment. In particular, he studies chemical fate and transport in natural and engineered systems, with a focus on poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). Dr. Higgins has authored more than 130 peer-reviewed publications. His research has been supported by NSF, NIH, EPA, USDA, and the DoD.

    Treating for Legacy PFASs: An Overview of Existing and Promising Technologies for Remediating Contaminated Water & Soil

    Dr. Zhanyun Wang
    EMPA Dübendorf, Switzerland

    Dr. Zhanyun Wang has recently joined the Technology & Society Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA). As an environmental chemist by training, his research interests focus primarily on understanding the life cycles and risks of various anthropogenic chemicals in the technosphere and natural environment. He is also very interested in exploring novel and pragmatic approaches to advancing sound chemicals management, enabling a sustainable circular economy, and strengthening the science–policy interface on chemicals and waste.

    Understanding the universe of PFASs — implications for regulations.

    Xenia Trier
    Univ. Copenhagen, Denmark

    Xenia Trier is an analytical chemist and advisor on PFAS, who has worked on PFAS since 2002 and did her Ph.D. on PFAS in paper and board food contact materials (2011). From 2016-2022 she worked at the European Environment Agency on chemicals, supporting the development and implementation of the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, the PFAS strategy, on safe and sustainable by design, early warning systems, data platforms and indicators. Since August 2022 she is back in research at UCPH doing analytical environmental chemistry on PFAS and other surfactants in support of regulation.

    PFAS analysis fit for regulation – on the art of living with uncertainty

      CONFERENCE REGISTRATION

      Registration is now open. Special reduced registration fees are available for students.

      PFAS Symposium

      AUGUST 30TH, 2023
      IDSTEIN, GERMANY

      The ITN (Innovative Training Network) PERFORCE3 (PER and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) towards the Future Of Research and its Communication in Europe 3) is a multi-partner research training programme in the field of PFASs contaminants coordinated by Stockholm University and funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action grant agreement 860665. As the ITN PERFORCE3 reaches its final stages, this symposium will display the research carried out by its 15 PhD students.

      Three general areas of PFAS research will be covered in thematic sessions: “Analytical Tools and Exposure science”, “Toxicology and epidemiology”, and “Solutions”.

      DRAFT PROGRAMME

      PFAS Prioritisation in Suspect Screening Analysis
      Silvia Hupcejová Dudášová (Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research – UFZ, Germany)

      Fluorine Mass Balance and Non-Target Screening of PFAS in Marine Mammals
      Mélanie Lauria (Stockholm University, Sweden)

      Presence and Concentrations of Replacement Fluorosurfactant Processing Aids and Other PFAS in the Air Downwind of Fluoropolymer Production Plants
      Joost Dalmijn (Stockholm University, Sweden)

      Fate and Properties of Alternative and Unknown PFAS in the Drinking Water Cycle
      Mohammad Sadia (University of Amsterdam, The Nethelands)

      Dermal Uptake of PFAS
      Oddný Ragnarsdóttir (University of Birmingham, UK)

      Impact of PFAS on Lipid Metabolism in Human Hepatocytes Model
      Ana Carolina Coelho (UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, Norway)Faezeh Sadrabadi Haghighi (German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Germany), Lackson Kashobwe (Vrije Universiteit  Amsterdam, The Netherlands) and Lars Brunken (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)

      Human Exposure to PFAS and Organofluorine Compounds in Northern Norway
      Lara Cioni (Norwegian Institute for Air Research – NILU, Norway)

      Integrated treatment of PFAS in existing water treatment plants – scoping the potential of foam partitioning
      Sanne Smith (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden)

      Remediation of highly PFAS contaminated sites – One challenge multiple approaches
      Björn Bonnet (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden) and Michel Hubert (Norwegian Geotechnical Institute – NGI, Norway)

      Finding a way out? A comprehensive study about the environmental fate of novel fluorinated prototype chemicals
      Viktória Licul-Kucera (Hochschule Fresenius University of Applied Sciences, Germany)

      Are Analysis of Alternative Methods Suitable for PFAS?
      Rachel London (ETH Zürich, Switzerland)

      More information about arrival & accommodation

      ©Grandpierre Design GmbH

      Direction to the town hall

      The city of Idstein has two underground garages both within walking distance of the Stadthalle.

      Address Town Hall Idstein:
      Löherplatz 15
      65510 Idstein, Germany

      You can download the detailed directions here:

      ACCOMMODATION & Places of Interest

      There are numerous accommodation options in Idstein.

      You can download an overview of hotels here:

      If you want to explore Idstein outside the workshop, here are some interesting places to visit:

      FLUOROS 23 on Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances – PFAS
      is organized by Hochschule Fresenius, University of Applied Sciences (HSF), Idstein, Germany

      Conference Chairs
      Ian Cousins & Thomas P. Knepper

      For further information contact Jutta Duy-Jung at jutta.duy-jung@hs-fresenius.de