Professor Peter Schoenmakers was named Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion on 28 June 2022. He received this honour for his exceptional achievements in the field of analytical chemistry which earned him international recognition and acclaim. Schoenmakers made a career in industry and science, was one of the founders of the national innovation community COAST and put Amsterdam on the map as an expertise centre in the analytical sciences.
The decoration was presented to Peter Schoenmakers by Annette Groot, deputy mayor of the municipality of ‘Dijk en Waard’, after his valedictory speech marking his emeritus status as a professor of ‘Analytical Chemistry and its applications in Forensic Science’.
<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/University_of_Amsterdam_Royal_Honour_for_Peter_Schoenmakers_Prof_Peter_Schoenmakers_Photo_Jan_Willem_Steenmeijer_Uv_A_208f440794.jpg" alt="University of Amsterdam: Royal Honour for Peter Schoenmakers: Prof. Peter Schoenmakers. Photo: Jan Willem Steenmeijer, UvA"/>
<h4>Unravelling the composition of chemical mixtures</h4>
Peter Schoenmakers has played an important role in developing the principles of chromatography, a separation technique used to unravel mixtures of different substances into their constituent components. Chromatography is considered the &quot;workhorse&quot; of chemical analysis and its applications range from industrial quality analysis to environmental analysis and forensic investigation. Schoenmakers has pioneered the development of comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography (LC×LC), enhancing the separation power from hundreds to thousands of chemical components and of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC), moving from thousands to tens of thousands of components. He has created the concept of spatial three-dimensional liquid chromatography for the separation of a million components, which earned him a prestigious ERC Advanced grant in 2016. This research is ongoing and Schoenmakers will continue to be involved as an emeritus professor.
<h4>An influential scientist</h4>
Schoenmakers was listed several times in the top 10 most influential scientists in his field (The Analytical Scientist Power List) and received many prestigious international awards, notably the Dal Nogare Award (2019) and the Csaba Horváth Memorial Award (2015). In August, he will be presented with the 2022 Award in Chromatography by the American Chemical Society in Chicago. Although Schoenmakers spent only half of his career at the university, he has (co)authored more than 230 scientific publications in leading journals. He supervised the research of 36 PhD students and is an editor for Journal of Chromatography A.
Colleagues praise Schoenmakers&#39; drive to achieve insight and understanding through in-depth research. He also receives much praise for his efforts in the field of academic education. He is an approachable and inspiring professor for his students, and his lectures and presentations excel in both content and entertainment. Schoenmakers inspired many students and was a tireless initiator of talent programs, summer schools and scholarship schemes.
<h4>Analytical Chemistry in the Netherlands</h4>
As a professor, Schoenmakers led the analytical-chemistry team in Amsterdam towards national recognition as a centre of expertise for analytical sciences in The Netherlands. He maintains a very extensive network of international, industrial and academic contacts that he uses to further develop analytical chemistry in the Netherlands. Schoenmakers has been one of the instigators of COAST, the public-private Community of Innovation in Analytical Science and Technology in The Netherlands. As its education director he has created programs to stimulate analytical-science studies, with support for education amounting to more than 300,000 € annually.
<h4>Royal commendation ‘Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion’</h4>
This royal commendation is one of the oldest and highest civil honours in the Netherlands. King Willem I established the Order on 29 September, 1815. Candidates who have made an exceptional contribution to society, especially in science, art, sports and literature, are eligible for this honour.
The valedictory speech of Peter Schoenmakers can be viewed at the <a href="https://webcolleges.uva.nl/Mediasite/Play/947782a92890404486ade32ecf6f9a851d">UvA weblectures website</a>.

Royal Honour for Peter Schoenmakers

The open-access Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS Au) has just published an invited perspective by Dr Saer Samanipour and his team on the daunting challenge of mapping all the chemicals around us. Samanipour, an Assistant Professor at the Van ‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) takes inventory of the available science and concludes that currently a real pro-active chemical management is not feasible. To really get a grip on the vast and expanding chemical universe, Samanipour advocates the use of machine learning and AI, complementing existing strategies for detecting and identifying all molecules we are exposed to.
In science lingo the aggregate of all the molecules we are exposed to is called the ‘exposome chemical space’ and it is central to Samanipour’s scientific endeavours. It is his mission to explore this vast molecular space and map it to the most ‘remote’ corners. He is driven by curiosity, but even more so by necessity. Direct and indirect exposure to a myriad of chemicals, mostly unknown, poses a significant threat to the human health. For instance, estimates are that 16% of global premature deaths are linked to pollution. The environment suffers as well, which can be seen, for example, in the loss of biodiversity. The case can be made, according to Samanipour, that humankind has surpassed the safe operating space for introducing human-made chemicals into the system of planet Earth.
<h4>Current approach is inherently passive</h4>
“It is rather unsatisfactory that we know so little about this”, he says. “We know little about the chemicals already in use, let alone that we can keep up with new chemicals that are currently being manufactured at an unprecedented rate.” In a previous study, he estimated that less than 2% of all chemicals that we are exposed to have been identified.
“The way society approaches this issue is inherently passive and at best reactive. Only after we observe some sort of effects of exposure to chemicals do we feel the urge to analyse them. We attempt to determine their presence, their effect on the environment and human health, and we try to determine the mechanisms by which they cause any harm. This has led to many problems, the latest being the crisis with PFAS chemicals. But we have also seen major issues with flame retardants, PCBs, CFCs and so on.”
<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/University_of_Amsterdam_HIMS_Only_through_machine_learning_and_AI_can_we_come_to_grips_with_all_chemicals_around_us_Dr_Saer_Samanipour_f9a0087236.jpg" alt="University of Amsterdam / HIMS: Dr Saer Samanipour."/>
Moreover, regulatory measures are predominantly aimed at chemicals with a very specific molecular structure that are produced in large quantities. “There are countless numbers of other chemicals out there where we don’t know much about. And these are not only man-made; nature also produces chemicals that can harm us. Through purely natural synthetic routes, or through the transformation of man-made chemicals.” In particular the latter category has been systematically overlooked according to Samanipour. “Conventional methods have catalogued only a fraction of the exposome, overlooking transformation products and often yielding uncertain results.”
<h4>We need a data-driven approach</h4>
The paper in JACS Au thoroughly reviews the latest efforts in mapping the exposome chemical space and discusses their results. A main bottleneck is that conventional chemical analysis is biased towards known or proposed structures, since this is key to interpreting data obtained with analytical methods such as chromatography and mass spectrometry (<a href="https://gcms.labrulez.com/library?instrumentationItems=5">GC</a>/<a href="https://lcms.labrulez.com/library?instrumentationItems=30">LC-HRMS</a>). Thus the more ‘unexpected’ chemicals are overlooked. This bias is avoided in so-called non-targeted analysis (NTA), but even then results are limited. Over the past 5 years, 1600 chemicals have been identified while every year around 700 new chemicals are introduced into the US market alone. Samanipour: “When you take the potential transformation products of these novel chemicals into account, you have to conclude that the speed of NTA studies is far too slow to be able to catch up. At this rate, our chemical exposome will continue to remain unknown.”
<blockquote>
<h4>&#39;We will for sure find molecules there that have been overlooked until now.&#39;</h4>
</blockquote>
The paper lists these and many more bottlenecks in current analytical science and suggest ways to improve results. In particular the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence will really push the field ahead, Samanipour argues. “We need a data-driven approach along several lines. Firstly, we should intensify the datamining efforts to distil information from existing chemical databases. Already recorded relations between structure, exposure and effect of identified chemicals will lead us to new insights. They could for instance help predict the health effects of related chemicals that are yet unidentified. Secondly, we have to perform retrospective analysis on already available analytical data obtained with established methods, expanding the identified chemical space. We will for sure find molecules there that have been overlooked until now. And thirdly, we can use AI to work on understanding the structure and scope of the exposome chemical space.”
<h4>Work hard to tackle this</h4>
Of course all this is a very complex, daunting matter, Samanipour realises. But as a sort of astronaut in molecular space - just like the explorers of the factual universe - he won’t let that complexity put him off. “We have to work hard to tackle this. I have no illusion that during my scientific career we will be able to fully chart the exposome chemical space. But it is imperative that we face its complexity, discuss it and take the first steps towards getting to grips with it.”
Samanipour cooperated with colleagues at the UvA’s Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, the School of Public Health at Imperial College London (United Kingdom) and the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Queensland (Australia). The work was supported by the TKI ChemistryNL and the UvA Data Science Center, with additional local funding for the partners in the UK and Australia.

Only through machine learning and AI can we come to grips with all chemicals around us

In a paper in Forensic Chemistry, PhD candidate Mirjam de Bruin - Hoegée and co-workers present research on the use of dried blood spots for portable detection and laboratory verification of organophosphate poisoning. They were able to identify stable biomarkers in the dried blood and measure the cholinesterase activity using a mobile test kit months after exposure. Both LC-MS/MS and GC–MS/MS were used for unambiguous verification.<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/University_of_Amsterdam_HIMS_Forensic_Chemistry_Detecting_nerve_agent_biomarkers_in_dried_blood_spots_a0a93eaea6.jpg" alt="University od Amsterdam / HIMS / Forensic Chemistry: Detecting nerve agent biomarkers in dried blood spots." srcset="https://storage.googleapis.com/labrulez-bucket-strapi-h3hsga3/thumbnail_University_of_Amsterdam_HIMS_Forensic_Chemistry_Detecting_nerve_agent_biomarkers_in_dried_blood_spots_a0a93eaea6.jpg 245w," sizes="100vw" width="1403" height="803">The research establishes that the on-scene analysis of biomarkers in dried blood spots followed by laboratory verification is a promising analysis scheme to verify nerve agent exposure. Nerve agent biomarkers in dried blood spots are very stable and can be detected at least one month after application on a protein saver card and storage under ambient conditions. Furthermore, the implementation in forensic practice is relatively straightforward. The method should however be confirmed in practice with regular and dried blood spot samples from an alleged exposure victim or animal model exposure studies.&nbsp;Furthermore, future research should focus on the improvement of the&nbsp;sample preparation methods&nbsp;to further lower the detection limit and fully validate the quantitative method.The research is part of the Forensic Attribution for CWA INtelliGence (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.forensicscientist.nl/facing.html">FACING</a>) project, a collaboration between the Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (HIMS) of the University of Amsterdam and TNO Defence, Safety &amp; Security. The research was performed at the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI). Also involved were the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the CLHC Amsterdam Center for Forensic Science and Medicine. The FACING project is financed by the Dutch Ministry of Defence.<h4>Paper abstract</h4>The analysis of biomedical samples is important for the investigation of the alleged exposure to chemical warfare agents. The present study aims to use dried blood spots for portable detection and laboratory verification of organophosphate poisoning. After in-vitro incubation of blood with Novichok A-230, A-232 and A-234 and sarin, a volume of 25 and 50&nbsp;µL was spotted on a protein saver card. Subsequently, the dried spots were extracted and analyzed by a mobile cholinesterase test kit. In addition, butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) was isolated and digested by pepsin followed by analysis with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The fluoride-activated samples were analyzed by gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS) and LC-MS/MS. It was found that the CWA induced cholinesterase inhibition was remarkably stable in dried blood spots. Even after at least one month storage under ambient conditions, the same linear reduction was visible as function of nerve agent exposure. Additionally, nonapeptide adducts were identified by LC-MS/MS one month after exposure. Also, intact Novichok nerve agents and regenerated sarin were observed by GC–MS/MS. In addition to the stability of the sample, important benefits of the proposed method include the less invasive sample collection and safer and easier shipping and storage conditions. In conclusion, this study shows the feasibility of using on-site detection and state-of-the-art laboratory analysis of dried blood spots for unambiguous verification of nerve agent exposure.

Detecting nerve agent biomarkers in dried blood spots

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Detecting nerve agent biomarkers in dried blood spots

Only through machine learning and AI can we come to grips with all chemicals around us

Royal Honour for Peter Schoenmakers

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