ISC 2026 - Program book

Significance of the topic

The International Symposium on Chromatography (ISC) is a long-established, biennial forum that shapes separation science and its applications across pharmaceuticals, environment, food, and health. ISC 2026 consolidates academic, industrial and regulatory perspectives, emphasising how advances in chromatographic modes, coupling strategies and detection (notably LC‑MS, SFC‑MS, GC‑MS and ion mobility) address current analytical challenges such as low‑input omics, biopharmaceutical characterization, environmental non‑target screening and sustainable workflows.

Objectives and overview of the program

The ISC 2026 program aims to: present state‑of‑the‑art separation and hyphenation techniques; accelerate translation of methods for proteomics, lipidomics, oligonucleotide and small‑molecule analysis; promote sustainable and miniaturised workflows; and foster industry–academic exchange through vendor seminars and an exhibition. The meeting includes short courses, plenary lectures, focused sessions (e.g., column tech, SFC/MS, multidimensional separations, electro‑driven techniques), poster sessions and awards (Pavel Jandera Award, Best Poster Awards).

Methodology and program structure

ISC 2026 is organised as a multi‑track scientific meeting combining:

• Short courses on practical and computational topics (HPLC fundamentals, mzMine for LC‑MS processing, AQbD, HILIC, oligonucleotide analytics, R for LC/MS data, supercritical fluids).
• Plenary talks addressing high‑impact themes (single‑cell proteomics, rapid evaporative ionisation MS, spintronics overview, advances in column and stationary phase technologies).
• Thematic parallel sessions covering proteomics, lipidomics, metabolomics, oligonucleotide retention and analysis, green analytical chemistry, hyphenated and ion‑mobility methods, microfluidics and miniaturised separations, chiral separations and method development/optimization.
• Vendor seminars and hands‑on demonstrations to connect instrumentation trends with analytical applications.

The program emphasises case studies and method transferability rather than a single experimental protocol.

Instrumentation used (Použitá instrumentace)

The program highlights a broad range of modern separation and detection platforms and auxiliary technologies, including:

• Liquid chromatography systems: UHPLC, micro‑ and nano‑LC, microflow LC, RP, HILIC, mixed‑mode, superficially porous particle columns and sub‑1 μm packings.
• Multidimensional separations: comprehensive LC×LC, online 2D and where applicable LC×GC coupling strategies.
• Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) and SFC‑MS for lipidomics and fatty acid analysis.
• Mass spectrometry: Orbitrap, qTOF, SLIM‑qTOF, TIMS/4D platforms, DBDI, ESI, CAD, REIMS (rapid evaporative ionisation), ambient and imaging MS approaches.
• Ion mobility spectrometry and LC‑IM‑MS workflows for enhanced separation and structural information.
• Capillary electrophoresis and nanoLC×CE‑MS for proteoform and intact protein/peptide analysis; CE‑ICP‑MS/CE‑ESI‑MS for metallomics and element‑specific analysis.
• Gas chromatography: GC‑MS (EI‑HRMS), GC×GC‑TOFMS, alternative ionisation sources (SICRIT), and GC‑IMS hyphenations.
• Sample preparation & micro‑extraction: SPE variants, miniaturised SPE/MEPS, solid‑phase extraction integrated into workflows, microfluidic preconcentrators and MEMS devices.
• Emerging tools: 3D‑printed separation devices, microfluidic modules for SERS‑MS coupling, HPLC‑XRF exploration and software tools (mzMine, modelling and AI‑guided selectivity mapping).
• Industry platforms: demonstrations and seminar content from major vendors (Thermo Fisher, Agilent, Waters, Shimadzu, Avantor, Restek, Merck, KNAUER, Tosoh, Advanced Materials Technology).

Main highlights and discussion

The program reveals several cross‑cutting themes and technical directions:

• Method robustness and quality control: sessions stressed system suitability for deep proteomics, QC strategies for label‑free quantitation and QC for biotherapeutics.
• Miniaturisation and high sensitivity: microflow and nano approaches for low‑input lipidomics and single‑cell proteomics; microfluidics and MEMS for sample handling and preconcentration.
• Oligonucleotide analytics: retention mechanisms, hybridisation‑based separations, IP‑RPLC and 2D strategies for complex oligonucleotide therapeutics.
• Multidimensional and orthogonal separation design: improved peak capacity via LC×LC, AI‑guided selection of orthogonal conditions and numerical optimisation of gradients.
• Greener analytical chemistry: exploration of alternative solvents (e.g., dimethyl carbonate), sustainable SFC workflows and miniaturised extraction to reduce solvent footprint.
• Advanced ionisation and detection: complementary ionisation strategies (ESI vs DBDI), ambient MS methods (REIMS) and coupling strategies to expand chemical space coverage.
• Data processing and AI: short courses and panels emphasised mzMine workflows, R‑based statistical pipelines, and AI-driven retention/selectivity mapping and method optimization.

Collectively the sessions aim to accelerate translation of novel separations into routine laboratory practice and regulated environments.

Benefits and practical applications

• Pharmaceutical development and QC: enhanced characterization of biotherapeutics (glycoforms, proteoforms, ADCs, oligonucleotides) and robust workflows for release testing.
• Clinical and translational research: low‑input lipidomics and single‑cell proteomics approaches to improve biomarker discovery and clinical risk stratification.
• Environmental and food analysis: multidimensional LC and GC×GC workflows for non‑target screening, exposomics and contaminant prioritisation.
• Industrial analytics: SFC and supercritical extraction for high‑throughput profiling, and miniaturised sample prep to increase throughput and reduce solvent use.
• Education and workforce development: short courses and career sessions support skill transfer in modern separation and data analysis methods.

Future trends and applications (Budoucí trendy a možnosti využití)

Key future directions identified by the program include:

• Deeper integration of AI and mechanistic modelling for method selection, retention prediction and autonomous method optimisation.
• Broader adoption of microfluidic and MEMS‑based sample handling to enable field‑deployable, low‑solvent and high‑throughput workflows.
• Expansion of multidimensional strategies with improved in‑silico optimisation and practical tutorials to lower entry barriers for routine labs.
• Convergence of ion mobility, high‑resolution MS and advanced chromatography to increase confident identification in complex matrices (omics and non‑target screening).
• Standardisation and sustainability: greener solvents, solvent‑saving protocols and cross‑vendor standard approaches for system suitability and method transfer.
• Enhanced interfaces and hyphenations (e.g., LC×GC, SLIM‑qTOF, microfluidics‑SERS‑MS) to access previously intractable analyte classes.

Conclusion

ISC 2026 positions separation science at the interface of technological innovation and applied needs. The program balances foundational topics (column and stationary phase science, retention theory) with translational priorities (biotherapeutic analytics, single‑cell proteomics, environmental non‑target screening) and operational drivers (robustness, sustainability, data workflows). For scientists and laboratories, the meeting offers actionable insights into instrument choices, multidimensional strategies and data pipelines needed to meet current and emerging analytical challenges.

References

No formal literature references were provided in the source program book; the summary synthesises session titles, short course topics and vendor/instrumentation mentions from the ISC 2026 program material.