The fourth biennial conference of the Spanish Society of Mass Spectrometry (SEEM) was held in Castellón, Spain from September 30th to October 2nd, 2009. Over 150 scientists and 50 young researchers from about 10 countries attended the conference. The conference featured plenary and keynote lectures on various applications of mass spectrometry, as well as 20 oral presentations and around 80 poster presentations. Three awards were given for outstanding research presentations. The conference provided an opportunity for the growing community of Spanish mass spectrometrists to exchange experiences and further their knowledge in the field. The fifth SEEM conference will be held in Málaga, Spain in 2011.

1. EDITORIAL
Mass Spectrometry: Fourth conference of the Spanish Society
of Mass Spectrometry (SEEM)
Félix Hernández & Juan V. Sancho & Damià Barceló
Published online: 25 June 2010
# Springer-Verlag 2010
The Spanish Society of Mass Spectrometry (SEEM) held
its first conference in Madrid in 2002. The second and third
conferences took place in Barcelona and Oviedo in 2004
and 2006, respectively. Castellón was the city chosen to
host the fourth biennial conference of SEEM (4RSEEM)
from 30 September to 2 October 2009. The meeting was
organized by the Research Institute for Pesticides and
Water (IUPA), from University Jaume I, under the auspices
of the President of the Organizing Committee, Félix
Hernández, Director of IUPA. SEEM is a rather young
society, but a very active one thanks to the numerous
prestigious scientists with considerable experience in mass
spectrometry among its members. The series of confer-
ences has become a meeting point for the growing
community of Spanish mass spectrometrists, fostering
discussions, exchanging experiences, and improving
knowledge of mass spectrometry.
The main objective of this conference series is to
present relevant applications and to illustrate the impact
of mass spectrometry in different applied areas. Accord-
ingly, there were sessions on environmental and food
analysis, bioanalysis, proteomic and metabolomic studies,
elemental analysis, speciation and isotopic analysis, and
fundamentals. It is worth mentioning that the number of
international attendees is growing with every event.
The conference was attended by more than 150
scientists, including about 50 young researchers (Ph.D.
students and postdoctoral researchers) from about ten
countries. The scientific program included a plenary lecture
given by Emilio Gelpí (CSIC, Barcelona), who presented
an interesting overview entitled the “History of mass
spectrometry in Spain.” Eight keynote lectures were also
presented by invited speakers: “Environmental mass spec-
trometry” by Susan Richardson (EPA, USA); “Investiga-
tion of phytoestrogens in food and water by LC-TOF MS”
by Imma Ferrer (University of Colorado, USA); “Confident
assignment of post-translational modifications using top-
down mass spectrometry” by Julian Whitelegge (UCLA,
USA); “Detection of anabolic steriods in doping control
analysis. Present and future of LC-MS/MS” by Oscar Pozo
(University of Ghent, Belgium); “Applications of mass
spectrometry in metabolomics: from toxicology to disease
diagnosis” by Elizabeth Want (Imperial College London,
UK); “LC-MS in drug metabolite identification” by
Wilfried Niessen (hyphen MassSpec, The Netherlands);
“Organic isotope dilution analysis revisited: minimal
labelling, heteroatom labelling and absolute determina-
tions” by José Ignacio Garcia-Alonso (University of
Oviedo, Spain); and “Theory and practice of orbitrap mass
spectrometry” by Alexander Makarov (Thermo Instru-
ments, Germany). In addition, 20 oral presentations were
also selected, and around 80 posters were presented during
F. Hernández (*)
Laboratorio de Análisis de Residuos de Plaguicidas (LARP),
Instituto Universitario de Plaguicidas y Aguas (IUPA),
Universitat Jaume I,
12071 Castellón de la Plana, Spain
e-mail: hernandf@qfa.uji.es
J. V. Sancho
Catedrático de Química Analítica,
Instituto Universitario de Plaguicidas y Aguas,
Departamento de Química Física y Analítica,
Universitat Jaume I Edificio de Investigación,
Campus del Riu Sec,
12071 Castelló de La Plana, Spain
D. Barceló
Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA),
Parc Cientific i Tecnològic de la Universitat de Girona,
Pic de Peguera 15,
17003 Girona, Spain
Anal Bioanal Chem (2010) 397:2761–2762
DOI 10.1007/s00216-010-3869-3

2. the conference. Three awards were presented in recognition
of specific research presentations: to J. Giner (University of
Oviedo), A. Martínez-Villalba (University of Barcelona),
and V. Casas (CSIC/UAB, Barcelona).
The pleasant venue for the meeting—the new auditorium
of University Jaume I—and the enjoyable social events
(Wednesday night get-together party, conference dinner in
the Royal Castellón Yacht Club) complemented the
symposium. Moreover, during the conference dinner,
various awards were presented: a special award for our
former president, Emilio Gelpí, and three medals for
recently retired professionals from different mass spectrom-
etry companies, F. Farré, L. Esteban ,and A. Vindel.
This is the first time that Analytical and Bioanalytical
Chemistry has included a collection of articles originating
from the works presented at a SEEM meeting. In this special
issue devoted to mass spectrometry, the articles presented
exemplify several key points that were discussed in the
sessions. These works show that progress in mass spectrom-
etry is crucial to study in important scientific fields. We very
much appreciate this opportunity, and we are confident that
this will be the principle of future collaborations between
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry and SEEM.
The program for 4RSEEM, abstracts, and much more
information are still available at http://www.4rseem.uji.es
and http://picasaweb.google.es/4rseem.
The fifth conference of SEEM will take place in Málaga,
in spring 2011.
The first president of SEEM, Emilio Gelpí, and the three Spanish
professionals from mass spectrometry companies whose accomplish-
ments were recognized at 4RSEEM (from left to right, A. Vindel, E.
Gelpí, F. Farré, and L. Esteban)
Félix Hernández is Professor of
Analytical Chemistry at University
Jaume I, Castellón, Spain. As
Director of the Research Institute
for Pesticides and Water, he leads a
30-strong research group in the
field of analytical chemistry. His
work is mainly focused on the
development of advanced analyti-
cal methodology for pesticide res-
idue analysis in a variety of sample
matrices. He is also Director of the
good laboratory practice (GLP)-
certified Laboratory of Pesticide
Residue Analysis (LARP) at the
same university. LARP is the reference laboratory for GLP studies related
to pesticide registration for the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture. The
development of analytical strategies for rapid screening of organic
micropollutants in the aquatic environment, making use of full-scan
accurate mass spectrometry, is one of the latest research developments
within his group.
Juan Vicente Sancho is Profes-
sor of Analytical Chemistry at
University Jaume I, Castellón,
Spain ,and is responsible for the
Mass Spectrometry University Fa-
cility. His work is mainly focused
on the application of advanced
mass spectrometry techniques in
environmental analysis and food
safety. Current research is focused
on the applications of ultra-high-
performance liquid chromatogra-
phy/tandem mass spectrometry
using both triple quadrupole and
hybrid quadrupole time of flight)
for screening, quantitation, confirmation, and elucidation of organic
contaminants in different fields. The development of metabolomic
approaches in food authenticity and doping analysis is one of his latest
research interests.
Damia Barceló is a full Research
Professor in the Environmental
Chemistry Department at IDAEA-
CSIC in Barcelona, Spain, and
Director of the Catalan Institute for
Water Studies (ICRA) in Girona,
Spain. He is also President of the
Spanish Society of Mass Spectrom-
etry. His researchfocuses on method
development and the monitoring
and fate of priority, new and emerg-
ing pollutants, using gas chromatog-
raphy and liquid chromatography
techniques coupled with advanced
tandem and hybrid mass spectrom-
etry analysis combined with effect studies using bioassays and biosensors.
2762 F. Hernández et al.