The summit included a total of three panel discussions, two in the parallel sessions on the first day and the third, the last scheduled assembly of the summit on the second day. 

The discussion panel of the Food&Environment Session on the first day was chaired by Dr. Lee and included Dr. Fukusaki and Leitner as the panelists. The discussion panel of the Clinical&Pharmaceutical Session on the first day was chaired by Dr. Chen and included Dr. McIntosh, Rai, Schug, Srivastava, Takeda, and Zhang as the panelists. Both discussions sessions were scheduled for 45 minutes. Following his talk, Dr. Lee began the panel discussion of the Food&Environment Session by asking the two panelists how they overcame major challenges in their research, especially at the early career stage. Audience questions included sample handling, protocols that reduce analysis time, and new techniques for compound authentication. Audience members in the Clinical&Pharmaceutical Session asked about the incorporation of artificial intelligence into analytical techniques, the real-time analysis of intact samples, the handling of other fluid samples such as cerebral spinal fluid, and emerging technologies for drug discovery and disease diagnostics that excite the KOL.

At the third panel, which went for 50 minutes, all KOL attended except Dr. Chen and Fukusaki, who did not attend the second day of the summit. Topics from the audience included concerns of non-specific absorption issues for protein quantification, more diversity in invited KOL with regards to expertise on analytical techniques (most KOL were experts on LC-MS and GC-MS; MALDI-TOF imaging was not well represented), how to advance MS applications toward electrophysiology and the screening of drugs, best platforms for the quantification of bacterial proteins (40-200 kDa), use of liquid biopsies for medical diagnostics, automation systems, metabolite identification, and standardization of IEM data (Dr. Zhang’s talk)..

Other

Before the conclusion of the first day, 49 ETL from 15 countries presented posters. The session was one hour long and was designed to assure scientific interaction between ETL with KOL and Shimadzu scientists.
A dinner followed the poster session at Kyoto Brighton Hotel. Shimadzu representatives Mr. Akira Nakamoto and Dr. Teruhisa Ueda gave the opening speech and announced the poster award winners, respectively. A demonstration of taiko (Japanese drums) and a performance by maiko were the entertainment.
Following the KOL panel discussion on the second day, ETL were invited to tour the Shimadzu factory. The KOL were asked to join Scott Kuzdzal for a closed discussion about summit. 
On July 6, KOL and ETL were invited to attend a tour of Kyoto that was organized by Shimadzu. 

Comments by KOL about the Summit

The following are comments made by KOL during the closed talk with Dr. Kuzdzal. Dr. Kuzdzal explained that these comments would be used to evaluate the summit and how future summits will be organized. Several KOL did not attend the meeting, including Dr. Chen, Fukusaki, Koboyashi, and Schug. Dr. Leitner and McIntosh arrived in the latter half. 

The below is an abridged list of comments that best exemplify the opinions of the individual or of the whole group.

CZ: It would be better if the next summit could be held just before or after a Japanese conference on mass spectrometry or similar in order to attract more participants from China. This time some ETL from China were not able to make the trip because the invitation was from a private company.

EL: Shimadzu is starting to communicate a lot more. Shimadzu has emerged as a true partner. Never attend a company conference of this intensity.

HKL: This was a good initiative by Shimadzu. The fact that it was not big was very good because it meant we could interact a lot more. It was just like a really good scientific conference. The science was of high quality. I would have liked to see more talks on other than MS technologies.

MM: The quality of the science was more than I expected.

SS: I was very impressed by the number of topics covered. It was no less than an international conference. It went beyond my expectation.

ST: I think the size of the conference was very good. Panel discussions don’t have enough time to go deep into the topics.

Abbreviations

  • dPLRM - dual penalized logistic regression machine
  • ETL - emerging thought leaders
  • GC - gas chromatography
  • IEM - inborn errors metabolism
  • KOL - key opinion leaders
  • LC- liquid chromatography
  • MALDI - matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization
  • MOAH - mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons
  • MOSH - mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons
  • MRM - multiple reaction monitoring
  • MS - mass spectrometry
  • NIR-PIT - near infrared photoimmunotherapy
  • PESI - probe electrospray ionization
  • TOF - time of flight