|
|
|
A Visit With
Jose Carlos Diez-Masa
| Jose Carlos Diez-Masa has enjoyed a very successful career with the National Research Council of Spain (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion) for 25 years. In 1987, his 4’th year at the Ministerio, he spent a sabbatical at the Barnett Institute. At that time CE was experimental, not yet an emerging technique, but he recognized its future and wanted to establish CE in Spain. His postdoctoral advisor, Georges Guiochon in Paris, introduced him to seminal papers of Dr. Karger with Shigeru Terabe and Aharon Cohen. He obtained a Fulbright fellowship to come and study at the Barnett. |
 |
|
Dr. Diez-Masa was born in Valladolid, about 200 km north of Madrid. Both of his parents were chemists; and the development of his interests were not as serendipitous or colorful as other alumni. He obtained a masters from the University of Valladolid in 1972, then a PhD with Dr. Dabrio in Madrid in 1976, working with capillary GC and developing a new system to bond the stationary phase to the glass. He went on to postdoctoral work with Georges Guichon in Paris (1976-1981), after which he joined the Ministerio de Ciencia in Spain, obtaining tenure in 1984. "In the council we are affiliated not with just one university, it is mostly research, with only some teaching". |
Asked to choose his most significant achievements, he lists new CE coatings - polyacrylamide derivatives that work well in analysis of basic proteins, for running the proteins in basic buffers near their isoelectric point where they are not highly charged. Much of his work has been with pharmaceutical companies in the separation of enantiomers, and detecting impurities in heparins. Over the years the GC work has been spun out to another division. He currently leads a group of seven members, two permanent staff and 5 postdocs or students, focused primarily on method development using CE and capillary LC.
Recently – and independently – he has seen strong possibilities in glycoproteins as biomarkers of many disease states. He found a warm reception to visit and compare notes, with Drs. Hancock and Karger doing related work. His earlier contemporary at the Institute, Andras Guttman, is now a Research Professor at the Institute.
His visit marks the endurance of ties within the Barnett alumni network, the value staying in touch with the Institute, and how science is advanced by working in parallel and comparing notes. |
Prof. Diez-Masa with Andraj Guttman
|
Prof. Diez-Masa with Zoltan Szabo, Senior Research Scientist
(Roger Kautz, Aug 2009)
|
