What a week it was at the AOAC INTERNATIONAL Annual Meeting! The annual event, held this year in Baltimore, Maryland, was jam packed with excellent technical sessions and discussions. The theme for this year was “Cultivating Leaders and Connecting Analytical Communities”. Our team from Q Laboratories included Michael Loewenstein, VP Scientific Consulting and Erin Crowley, Chief Scientific Officer.
Game-Changing Roundtable Sessions
Our very own CSO, Erin Crowley, was part of the session "What Validation Studies Say About the Method’s Performances and Scopes in Food Microbiology?” Global representatives from the food industry, regulatory bodies, method certification bodies, and laboratories discussed what method validation really has to say about performance and scope. Much was said about the criticality of developing standards to validate quantitative methods. Michael continued to dive deeper into this topic with his session “Quantification at the Molecular Level: Developing Validation Standards Across Industries”. This session convened experts within USDA and Industry to develop a strategy for improved validation standards of these methods to better drive acceptance of these methods in both current and emerging industries such as Legionella in the water treatment industry.
Networking and Collaboration
The AOAC Annual Meeting is renowned for its networking opportunities, and this year was no exception. The team from Q Labs had the pleasure of meeting new colleagues and catching up with existing ones. From the Exhibit Hall to the special Networking events and Poster Sessions, we had excellent opportunities to network and engage with industry leaders. Key highlights included Erin as the co-chair of the Microbiology Community and Michael as a member of the AOAC Official Methods Board. Their presentations at the Analytical International Methods and Standards (AIMS) Meeting included official announcement of the publication of the first ever standard for validating Cyclospora cayetanensis and the progress of the Legionella Working Group’s mission to develop a standard for quantitative molecular methods. For more information on becoming involved, please visit the AOAC website for details: https://www.aoac.org/scientific-solutions/aims/
Q Laboratories in Leadership
The final day of the meeting was the Annual Business Meeting where Dr. Daniele Sohier (Hygiena) was sworn in as the new AOAC INTERNATIONAL President. Her first order of business was to select and approve the new Board of Directors for 2024-2025. We are pleased to announce that Michael Loewenstein was selected as one of the new Directors-at-Large! These positions are personally selected and appointed by the President with Board approval. Directors-at-Large may be appointed at any time of year and shall serve until the adjournment of the next annual meeting, at which time they may be reappointed, not to exceed three (3) full one-year consecutive terms. Congratulations to Michael for this achievement and representing Q Laboratories at the highest level within AOAC INTERNATIONAL.
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