1st EPNOE Polysaccharide Conference

More than 250 participants from 31 countries were present.
The programme was composed of 6 plenary lectures, 12 keynotes, 24 invited lectures, 56 oral contributions and 6 quick notes.
More than 100 posters were exhibited, including 34 student posters.

Monday 21 September

After 26 lectures given in parallel sessions, a Welcome Reception took place. During the reception, an interesting Round Table was organised on the topic of "Bio-based materials and climate change". Three invited speakers exposed their views: Martin Patel, Professor at Utrecht University (Netherlands), Maija Suomela, from the social organisation Greenpeace (Finland) and Harri Turpeinen, from the company Neste Oil (Finland).

Tuesday 22 September
After 27 lectures, a Poster & Wine session took place. The 34 student posters were evaluated by a committee that delivered 4 prizes.

Winners of the student poster award:
- Inga Unterieser, Romy Müller, Petra Mischnick, Fractionation of methyl cellulose according to chemical structure, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institut für Lebensmittelchemie, Germany / KTH – Royal Institute of Technology, Fiber and Polymer Technology, Sweden

- Hanna de la Motte, Gunnar Westman, Chemical modifications of softwood kraft fibre networks towards an
absorption product, Organic Chemistry, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden
- Martin Gericke, Tim Liebert, Thomas Heinze, Novel paths for the synthesis and application of cellulose sulfate using ionic liquids, Centre of Excellence for Polysaccharide Research, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany
- Tuomas Hänninen, Eero Kontturi, Tapani Vuorinen, Structural differences in Pinus sylvestris and Picea abies by Raman imaging, Helsinki University of Technology, Department of Forest Products Technology, Laboratory of Forest Products Chemistry, Finland

Wednesday 23 September
After 27 lectures, the participants to the conference were invited to the Conference Banquet in the medieval setting of Turku Castle, hosted by Duke John and Katarina Jagellonica, coming back from the 16th century especially for entertaining the conference participants.

Thursday 24 September
24 lectures were delivered. End of the conference.

Short Course
An intensive course for students and researchers was offered by EPNOE members on Sunday 20 September. The topic of the course was "Advanced Methods in Polysaccharide Research". The following lectures will be turned into videolectures that will be soon available in the website:
- Pedro Fardim, Chemistry of interfaces of polysaccharide-based materials
- John Mitchell, Characterisation of polysaccharides for food applications
- Carmen Boeriu, Enzyme-mediated modification of carbohydrates to tailor their functional properties

- Patrick Navard, Principles of rheo-physics and applications to the study of polysaccharide-based products under flow
- Anton Huber, What is the actual molar mass of polysaccharides?
- Ewa Wesolowska, Modern techniques of the manufacture of fibrous medical materials based on PS