Italian Meeting on Raman spectroscopies and non linear optical effects, GISR 2017

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(ph. FotoRolli)

The GISR2017 conference follows the tradition of the meetings that have been organized every two years since 1986 by the National Discussion Group on Raman Spectroscopy and Nonlinear Optical Effects, and is the fifth in the new series since the National Group naturally evolved into the corresponding Interdivisional Group of the Italian Chemical Society (GISR-SCI). The history of the GISR has its origin in a previous and lasting experience of scientific exchanges. In fact, the group was born in the 1980s as an opportunity for promoting scientific discussions in the field of Raman spectroscopy and non-linear optic techniques, in the framework of an open and informal communication climate. From many years, the meetings periodically organized by GISR are by now a well-established meeting point for researchers arising from academia, research centres and industries, who study and use spectroscopies based on Raman and non-linear optical effects for investigations in several fields of Chemical, Physical, Biological, Pharmaceutical Sciences and in Engineering and Medicine.

The aim of GISR2017 was to present an overview both on the most recent technological advancements in the development of innovative spectroscopic techniques based on Raman and optical Raman microscopies and on the state-of-the-art applications of these techniques for addressing a large array of open problems, ranging from the analytical chemistry to a versatile biomedical analysis tool, from the characterization of materials in the field of cultural heritage to the designing of efficient  nanostructures for SERS detection. The meeting has been opened with the welcome from the chairmen of the conference, Claudio Masciovecchio and Barbara Rossi from Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, who have presented also the synchrotron-based resonant Raman scattering instrument working in the UV spectral range, newly developed on the beamline IUVS. The invited speakers comprised prominent figures on the international scene and they have presented keynote lectures on enhanced effects, like SERS, UV Resonant Raman and Stimulated Raman spectroscopy and on novel optical Raman microscopies applied to the fields of biomedical materials and cultural heritages. Over 60 attendees of the event, among whom especially young researchers were given the opportunity to present their scientific results, in form of oral and poster contributions, and discuss the most recent scientific highlights on the many facets of Raman and nonlinear optical spectroscopies. Very interesting sessions were dedicated to the use of Raman spectroscopies in several research fields of science ranging from chemistry and biology to material science. Two poster prizes, sponsored by Biopolymers and Peptide Science Journals, have been awarded to Dr. Elisa Gurian and Dr. Vitor Paschoal, young scientists from University of Trieste (Italy) and University of São Paulo (Brazil), respectively, for their research works concerning the use of SERS for detecting of small biomolecules and the study of phase transition in Ionic liquids trough low-frequency Raman spectroscopy. 

To witness the high scientific interest of the international community towards the event, the Journal of Raman Spectroscopy (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1097-4555), an international journal dedicated to the publication of original research at the cutting edge of all areas of science and technology related to Raman spectroscopy, proposed to devote a special issue to the GISR 2017 meeting. It will be published in the year 2018.