Aurore Schneiders, a PhD student in the MSLab laboratory, has just received the prestigious Otto Hutzinger Student Award at the annual Dioxin'2024 symposium in Singapore, in recognition of her research into halogenated persistent organic pollutants, and more specifically PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkylated substances).
T
he Otto Hutzinger Student Award is presented to students whose presentations stand out for their scientific excellence. The award pays tribute to Professor Otto Hutzinger, a pioneer in the field of dioxins, who founded these symposia to encourage scientific research and support young researchers.
Aurore Schneiders is a PhD student at ULiège's MSLab, working under the supervision of Prof. Gauthier Eppe. Her innovative research focuses on the identification and characterisation of PFASs, a family of chemical compounds widely used in industry for their waterproofing and resistance properties. Faced with increasing restrictions on some of these compounds due to their persistence in the environment and their harmful potential, Aurore and her team are focusing on developing advanced methods for identifying a wide range of these substances. In particular, she is using a technique combining liquid chromatography (LC), ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) and mass spectrometry (MS), which offers significant advantages over conventional methods.
During her presentation at the Dioxin 2024 conference, Aurore Schneiders presented the results of her study on perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs), a subclass of PFAS. She highlighted a little-studied phenomenon: the dimerisation of these compounds during analysis. Although this phenomenon has been mentioned in a number of scientific publications, it has never been studied in depth. Yet these dimers can play a key role in the identification of emerging PFASs and should not be considered solely as analytical artefacts," explains Aurore Schneiders. Her work also proposes theoretical models that will provide a better understanding of the structure of these dimers and their behaviour, both in the environment and in biological organisms.
"This research opens up new perspectives for the identification of PFASs, particularly in a context where these compounds are causing increasing environmental concern", said Aurore Schneiders when presenting her prize. "Understanding their structure and behaviour is crucial for anticipating their long-term effects on human health and ecosystems.
In receiving this prize, Aurore Schneiders joins the ranks of promising young researchers who are being encouraged to continue their work in the field of persistent organic pollutants, a major public health issue worldwide.
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