Benjamin-Florian Hempel
Head of Proteomics Laboratory, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinary Center for Resistance Research, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Challenges? The exponentially increasing data sets of high-dimensional complexity that analytical instruments generate in short time scales. Current analysis tools are still lagging behind to take full advantage and extract the highly complex information enclosed in the dataset.
Predictions? This question can be answered in three simple words: speed, handling, and miniaturization. Current instruments already enabled analyses of large sample cohorts on very short time scales, which will be further developed in future. The simplified handling is another upcoming trend, which allows many more end users an ease of use in clinical routine, for example. Last but not least a step into the future is miniaturization of instruments. The already existing benchtop instruments will become even more compact so they can be directly used in field studies.
Secret to success? Freedom to implement my own ideas – within reason! – and learn from resulting successes and mistakes.
Dream dinner party? Not that easy – on the scientific level, I would be fascinated to have dinner with all the great personalities who made mass spectrometry what it is today. From a personal point of view, I really would enjoy meeting politicians, philosophers, scientists, religionists and artists who have advanced humanity of their time with their opinion and passion. That would be an incredibly long list, of course, but to name a few: Anne Frank, Galileo Galilei, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King. All these revolutionists can tell an inimitable story; learning more about the personality and thoughts of these people would be a unique opportunity and pleasure for me.
