Ep. 46: Live from Pittcon with Award Winners Bob Pirok and Justin Godinho

Welcome to “Analytically Speaking,” the podcast from LCGC International and Spectroscopy.

In this episode, podcast co-hosts Dr. Dwight Stoll and Dr. James Grinias talk with two recent award winners live from the Pittcon conference in San Antonio, Texas: Dr. Bob Pirok and Dr. Justin Godinho. Dr. Bob Pirok is an Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, where he also completed his Ph.D. under the direction of Professor Peter Schoenmakers. He is an expert in multi-dimensional chromatography and the application of machine learning within the field. At Pittcon we celebrated his receipt of the Emerging Leader in Chromatography Award, presented by LCGC International Magazine. Dr. Justin Godinho is a Senior Principal Scientist at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Upper Providence, Pennsylvania. He completed his undergraduate work at Davidson College and his Ph.D. under the direction of Professor Jim Jorgenson at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before joining GSK, he worked in the column manufacturing business with Advanced Materials Technology. He is a recognized expert in column technology at both capillary and analytical scales, as well as the analysis of small and biotherapeutic molecules. At this year's conference, he received the Young Investigator in Separation Science Award, sponsored by the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry.

In the conversation, we discuss the recent award sessions for both guests and the evolution of their respective careers. We explore Justin’s transition from fundamental column packing research to biopharmaceutical applications at GSK, touching on the ongoing need for protein-suitable columns, capillary-scale techniques, and the Hydrophobic Subtraction Model column database. We then shift to Bob’s research on automated method development discussed at the meeting. This includes a deep dive into data-driven chromatography, the complexities involved in establishing effective Chromatographic Response Functions (CRFs), and why setting realistic expectations for artificial intelligence and automated method development is critical to avoiding a future "AI winter."

Resources Discussed:

Reversed-Phase Column Selectivity Database: www.hplccolumns.org

More about our hosts:

Dwight Stoll, PhD:

Dwight R. Stoll is a professor of chemistry at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. He received his PhD from the University of Minnesota, under Professor Peter Carr, working on the development of fast, comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography (2D-LC). Stoll’s current primary research focus is on the development of 2D-LC for both targeted and untargeted analyses. Active research projects in his laboratory touch on most aspects of multidimensional separation methodologies, including optimization strategies, characterization of selectivity in reversed-phase LC, instrument development, and applications in biopharmaceutical analysis. Stoll is the author or co-author of more than 80 peer-reviewed publications and six book chapters and has instructed numerous short courses in 2D-LC. In 2011 he was the recipient of LCGC’s Emerging Leader in Chromatography Award. In 2017 he received the Georges Guiochon Faculty Fellowship, and was recognized with an Agilent Technologies Thought Leader Award. He is also a member of LCGC’s editorial advisory board and is the editor of the “LC Troubleshooting” column in LCGC.

Jerome Workman, Jr., PhD:

Jerome (Jerry) J. Workman, Jr. is the Executive Editor for LCGC and Spectroscopy. He has held positions as CTO, executive VP, senior research fellow, director, and senior scientist at companies of all sizes, from start-ups to world-leading corporations. He has been an adjunct faculty member of four universities and advised multiple graduate students. He has more than 75 U.S. and international patent applications and 30 issued U.S. and international patents and multiple trade secrets, as well as 500+ technical publications, and 20 reference book volumes on a broad range of spectroscopy and data processing techniques. He has received multiple awards from scientific societies, and has taught annual courses in spectroscopy, chemometrics, and statistics for the AOAC, ACS, ISA, FACSS, and at several universities and corporations. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemists (FAIC), the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), and the Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK (FRSC, CChem, CSci). Jerry holds B.A and M.A degrees from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, and a PhD degree from Columbia Pacific University working in near-infrared spectroscopy. He is an alumnus of both Columbia University Business School and the MIT Sloan School of Management.

About the Analytically Speaking Podcast:

Analytically Speaking, the podcast from LCGC and Spectroscopy, addresses important issues in separation science and analytical spectroscopy. Topics include new analytical techniques, methods, and approaches; the latest trends; advances in instrument and software technology; practical solutions for specific applications; recent papers in the scientific literature and their applicability; challenges and solutions for data analysis and interpretation; analytical chemistry theory and fundamentals (from advanced research to tutorials and troubleshooting); and more. Our regular hosts are Dwight Stoll, PhD, a professor of chemistry at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, and Jerry Workman, PhD, a spectroscopist, noted author, and currently the Senior Technical Editor of Spectroscopy and LCGC. Dwight covers separation science and Jerry addresses spectroscopy related topics.

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