APA Newsletter Number 1 April 2012

Contents
1. Contents …………………………………………………………………………………….. 1
2. Preface by the President of APA ………………………………………………… 2
3. Forward ……….……………………………………………………………………………. 3
4. Upcoming conferences …………………………………………….……………..…. 4
5. Conference Reports ……………………………………………….………………….. 7
6. Regional News ………………………………….………………………………..………. 10
Introduction to Regional News
Korean Society of Photochemistry launches a new Journal
The Japanese recovery 1 year after the disaster
7. Regional Focus ‐ APA Singapore …………………………………….….………. 14
8. Submission of Materials to APA Newsletter ………………………………. 23

1

APA President’s Preface
Professor Minjoong Yoon,
President of the Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry Association
It is my great privilege to write preface to the first issue of the APA Newsletter on behalfof the Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry Association (APA). First of all, with all ofcolleagues in the field of photochemistry and the related sciences in Asia and Oceania
regions, I would like to congratulate on launching of the APA Newsletter which could beaccomplished by Dr. Jonathan Hobley’s great efforts. Launching of the newsletter in thisyear is particularly meaningful, because this year is 10th Anniversary of the APA which
was officially founded in 2002 when the third Asian Photochemistry Conference washeld at Mumbai, India. I think the APA newsletter must open a turning point to promote
the APA one step further for the next more than 10 years in the future by providing all
the photochemical societies and members in Asia and Oceania regions with
opportunities to exchange scientific information as well as all kinds of activities.
In reality, the Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry Association (APA) was officially established more than 35
years behind the European Photochemistry Association (EPA) and Inter‐American Photochemical Society (I‐APS),
even though the Japanese Photochemistry Association (JPA) was founded around the same time as the EPA andthe I‐APS. Nevertheless, the APA has achieved many scientific contributions very rapidly in promotion of thephotochemical science in the world as well as encouragement of the international development of photochemistry
and related subjects in Asian and Oceania countries by several scientific movements such as the biannual Asian
Photochemistry Conference (APC), publication of journals including J. Photochem. Photobiol. C‐Photochem. Rev.
(official organ of the JPA), Photochem. Photobiol. Sci. (official organ of the Korean Society of Photoscience (KSP) asa part of coownership with EPA) and supporting the XXI International Conference on Photochemistry at Nara in2003 and the XXV International Conference on Photochemistry at Beijing in 2011 and the annual Korea‐Japan
Symposium on Frontier Photoscience (KJFP). The APA also has been recognizing the APA‐award, the award for the
distinguished contribution to the APA and APA Prize for young scientists since 2005, being involved in the selectionof the Porter Medal awardee with the I‐APS and the EPA. From this year the APA will inaugurate Masuhara
Lectureship Award at the 7th APC (Osaka, Japan November 2012) in honor of Professor Hiroshi Masuhara, theFounding President of the APA.
In spite of such scientific activities, we still need more frequent scientific communication to enhancecollaboration between the APA members in universities, research institutions and industries through international
contacts and exchange of scientists which is the core aim of the APA. In this point of view, I am sure that the
biannual publication of the APA Newsletter will play very important roles in achieving the core aim of the APA,
because the APA Newsletter will handle detail information of photochemical events and their highlights in eachregion, research grant calls that require international collaborators, job postings or opportunities requiring
overseas applicants, publication highlights of great papers or theses from each regions, and any other relevant
regional news, prestigious promotions, prestigious appointments, retirements of individual members.
Finally I would like to use this opportunity to express my gratitude to all the previous executive committee
members of the APA and all the colleagues in the field of photochemistry and the related sciences in the Asia andOceania region for their great contributions to the advancement of the APA up to the 10th Anniversary. The
inauguration of the APA Newsletter seems to luster the celebration of the 10th Anniversary, and I would like tothank all the present APA executive committee members and councilors, particularly Dr. Jonathan Hobley andProfessor Hiroshi Miyasaka for their great efforts of the successful edition of the 1st issue of the APA Newsletter. I
hope all the colleagues continue to cooperate and support the sustainable publication of the high level Newsletter.

2

Forward
Jonathan Hobley
APA Council Representative for Singapore.
This is the first attempt at an APA newsletter and thanks to the help of many people it was not too time consuming
to edit. Some of you may wonder why we need a newsletter. Well The Newsletter is designed to promote
photochemistry and to disseminate information on the activities of the local societies. As mentioned in APA
President Minjoong Yoon’s preface, we are aiming to publish two APA Newsletters each year starting from thisyear. These are scheduled for publication in April and November of each year. In the Newsletter you will findimportant regional information that will help to keep the APA network of researchers connect via a knowledge ofwhat we are all doing in our research activities and what events and initiatives we are undertaking. The APA
Newsletter is also a platform of discussion about conferences that have been held as well as a medium for future
conference details to be disseminated. I am sure that the Newsletter format will be flexible over time and we arevery open to any suggestions for improvements or additional information that we may add to increase the benefits
to APA members. The APA Newsletter is created for its members and we will have an open ear to the wishes of themembers.
In this issue we will highlight some research activities, highlights and opportunities that exist in Singapore in our
Regional focus section. Every issue we aim to highlight the activities of one of the APA regions, however since
Singapore is now the newest member of APA it seems fitting that they (we) should kick‐off this effort byintroducing themselves to the rest of the APA community.
In this Newsletter we will also deliver important details on the upcoming APA meeting in Osaka this coming
November as well as some other important conference events. In addition we announce the launch of a newjournal by the Korean Society of Photochemistry, which is a welcome initiative to get photochemistry more
prominent on the world stage. We also report on the recovery in Japan following last year’s disaster.
Thanks to Minjoong Yoon for appreciating the small efforts that have gone into the making this first Newsletter,
however I would like to point out that this is an honor for me to be given the opportunity to be at the heart of thismouthpiece to all of APA. I would also like to thank Professor Miyasaka, Professor Ghiggino and Professor
Fukumura for their support of this initiative. Let’s look forwards to a very active next 10 years of APA.

3

Upcoming Conferences
In this issue we have seven upcoming events to report in areas extending from Portugal in Europe and from
Australia to Japan.

1) 7th Asian Photochemistry Conference (APC2012) 12‐15 November 2012 Osaka, Japan
http://photochemistry.jp/apc2012

Deadline for registration: June 30, 2012
Deadline for abstract: July 31, 2012
On behalf of the Asian and Oceanian Photochemistry
Association (APA), we are happy to organize the 7th
Asia and Oceania Conference on Photochemistry 2012
(APC2012). This international gathering of the scientists
working in the fields of Photochemistry and relatedareas will be organized in Suita, Osaka, Japan, from
November 12th to 15th, 2012.
APC was first held in Hong Kong in 1997, and has been held 5 times so far, Taejeon, Korea (1999), Mumbai, India(2002), Taipei (2005), Beijing, China (2008), and Wellington, New Zealand (2010).
APC2012 is an international conference for the experts working in the fields of Photochemistry and related areas
all over the world. The scientific program of the APC2012 will cover all of the major disciplines of contemporary
photochemistry‐related science including physics, biology, medicine, materials science, engineering, andtechnology. The scientific committee represents a broad diversity of interests in photochemistry and, with their
input, we are organizing an exciting array of scientific events composed by keynote lecture, invited talk, oralpresentation, and poster session. To generate new research ideas, this conference will provide the unique
opportunity for scientific interaction and exchange of ideas among the participants.
The Conference venue will be the Icho Kaikan, Osaka University. It is located in the Suita campus of Osaka
University. The Hall has conference rooms, a reception hall, and a restaurant. Osaka is located at the center ofJapan and easily accessed by limousine bus and/or train through Kansai airport from many cities in abroad. The
Conference attendees will be able to enjoy not only the scientific program but also the culture of Japan.
We are welcoming you to Osaka and we hope all participants enjoy the exciting scientific and cultural program in
November 2012 in Osaka.
Tetsuro Majima, Osaka Univ., Japan (JPA president 2010‐2011)
Noboru Kitamura, Hokkaido Univ., Japan (JPA president 2012‐2013)4

2) The First International Conference on Photocatalysis and Solar Energy Conversion: Development ofMaterials and Nanomaterials ‐ Daejeon Convention Center (DCC), Daejeon, Korea, May 29 ‐ June 1, 2012
http://www.redoxtech.com/pdf2012/Photocatalysis%20and%20Solar%20Energy%20Conversion%20‐%20New.pdf
Professor Professor Minjoong Yoon and Dr. Hussain
Al‐Ekabi at Redox Technologies Inc. in Canada areorganizing a conference which will be held at
Daejeon, Korea from May 29 to June 1. In thisconference, four plenary speakers (Professors Akira
Fujishima (Japan), Michael Graetzel (Swiss), Michael
R. Hoffmann(USA), Jaesung Lee(Korea)) and 34
invited speakers will give talks. Additionally there
will be 25 short talks and a poster session. You canrefer to the conference website for more details.
Although the deadline for submissions is officiallyclosed, this event promises to be highly informative
and the conference is held in a picturesque location
as thecity is surrounded by mountains, and the the Gyeryongsan National Park reaches the city in the west.
Daejoen is South Korea’s 5th largest city, and is located in the province of Chungnam in the center of the country. It
is known as the science and technology capital of South Korea because it hosts many research institutes such as
the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and it also hosts the Daedeok Science Town. You may
wish to visit this conference as a non‐participating person.
3) XXIV IUPAC Symposium on Photochemistry 15‐20 July 2012 Coimbra, Portugal
http://www.photoiupac2012.com/
The IUPAC Symposium on Photochemistry will be held in Coimbra, Portugal, this year. There will be plenary talks,
invited talks as well as contributed talks and posters. The IUPAC conference series is held every two years and is an
important photochemistry event.
The conference venure is the University of Coimbra which was founded, one century after the Portuguese nation,in 1290. Coimbra itself was one the capitol of Portugal. The city is very picturesque as it is located on a hill by theriver Mondego.
The abstract submission deadline was extended until 24th April so please check to see if there will be further
extensions on this. If not then you can always visit as a non‐participating delegate to enjoy the talks and thehistoric town.
4) Japanese Photochemistry Association Annual Meeting 12th – 14th September 2012. Tokyo Institute ofTechnology Japan

Keep an eye on the JPA events website for more information
http://photochemistry.jp/ENGLISH/events.htm
The dead line of submission is May 29, 2012 (only short abstract is needed at that time, full abstract later).
International sessions are organized.
55) Photonics Global Singapore 13th – 16th December 2012
http://www.photonicsglobal.org/index.php
This is a biennial event held since 2008. Previous conference have attracted more than 300 delegates. Subjects

include all areas of optics and light: Novel Photonic Materials and Devices, Photonic Nano‐Structures andApplications, Optical Fibre Technology, Advanced Optical Communications, Biophotonics, Plasmonics andMetamaterials, Bioimaging and Sensing, Mid‐Infrared and THz Photonics, Diffuse Optical Imaging andSpectroscopy, Silicon Photonics and It's Applications, Optical Fiber Grating‐based Technologies and Their
Applications, Green Energies in Photonics, Fibre Lasers and Their Applications, Photon‐Induced Physicaland Chemical Processes in Fluids, Microstructured and Special Optical Fibers, Microwave Photonics
6) Focus on Microscopy (FOM) conference, Maastricht, the Netherlands, March 24‐ 27, 2013
http://www.focusonmicroscopy.org/
See the next section for the write up of FOM2012. Further details will be released on the website.
7) 3rd International Organic Excitonic Solar Cells Conference (IOESC:2012) 3rd‐7th September Coolum Golf & Spa
Resorthttp://www.opvaustralia.org/index.php
The third international Organic Excitonic Solar Cell (OESC2012) conference will be held from the 3rd‐7th September
2012. You are warmly invited to the Coolum Golf and Spa (formerly known as Hyatt Regency Coolum) on thebeautiful Queensland Sunshine Coast, Australia. The conference will include both Dye Sensitised and Solid‐State
Thin Film Solar Cells. Coolum is off the Sunshine Motorway 100km North of Brisbane.
Registration deadline 1st June 2012.

6

Conference Reports.

Conference Name: 2012 Spring Symposium of Photochemistry Association in Taiwan
Date: February 9‐10, 2012
Venue: Kaohsiung Medical University
Organizer: Professor/Dean Jeh‐Jeng Wang and colleague, College of Life Science, Kaohsiung Medical University
Number of Attendees (including students): 126
The main purpose of this meeting was to provide aforum for students, research assistants and post‐
doctoral researchers to report their research results.
In addition, there were five keynote speeches given
by professors (Ian Liau, Hung‐Wen Li, Chih‐Hung Lee,
Ching‐Shuang Wu, and Genin Gary Huang). The
topics covered spectroscopy, dynamics, basic
biomedical research and clinical medicine. The
meeting also had a poster session. Students who
gave excellent oral or poster presentations wereawarded by the organizers. The meeting was
conducted in English; students and young
researchers can practice to communicate withinternational language.
Participation of Taiwan in APA was briefly discussed. The organizer and venue for the next regional (fall 2012)
meeting were also announced.
To include a topic of applications of photochemical studies in the medical field was attempted for the first time in
the Photochemistry meeting series. Future meetings may consider inviting researchers in various fields for thebroadness of photochemistry researches.
Report by Dr. Jim Jr‐Min Lin
Research Fellow, Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan 10617
Conference Name: Focus on Microscopy 2012 (FOM2012)
Date:1st‐4th April, 2012
Venue: Suntec City Singapore
Organizer: Colin Sheppard, Fred Brakenhoff and Thorsten Wohland
Number of Attendees: >300 presentations.
http://www.focusonmicroscopy.org/
This annual conference on optical techniques and imaging was held in Singapore in 2012. The conferences covered
areas such as theory excitation microscopy, 3D and 4D live cell and tissue imaging Super‐resolution imaging: (4pi,SIM, STED), fluorescent imaging, TIRF, Time‐resolved fluorescence: FRET, FRAP, FLIM, FCS, Coherent non‐linear
microscopy (SHG, THG, SFG, CARS) Raman spectroscopy imaging, Correlative Light/Electron microscopy Laser
7

trapping and tracking, photo‐activation, OCT, endoscopy , Data acquisition, High‐throughput microscopy
techniques, 3D image processing.
FOM 2012 also included the 25th International Conference on 3D Image Processing in Microscopy and the24th International Conference on Confocal Microscopy.
Tutorials were held on Fundamentals of fluorescence imaging, Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, Förster
Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) in cellular imaging and Time resolved multi‐tag single molecule tracking.

Nearly 50 companies participated in the exhibition. There were well in excess of 300 contributions to theconference and many more attended as non‐presenting participants. Well known photochemists were inattendance including Trevor Smith, Hiroshi Masuhara and Markus Sauer.
Singapore is a modern Asian City with easy to use infrastructure and many good quality hotels. It has, what someconsider, the best food in the world. For example it is famous for chilli crab and black pepper crab dishes.
Singapore was founded in 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles.
Conference Name: Japanese Photochemistry Association (JPA) Annual Meeting
Date: September 6th – 8th 2011
Venue: Miyazaki Kyushu Japan
Organizer: JPA Masahide Yasuda, Miyazaki University (Organizing Committee Chair)
Number of Attendees: >460 presentations.

JPA annual meeting is always a bigger than average local
conference with an attendance that rivals many
international conferences. This year it was held in an
Onsen (volcanic hot spring) resort, Miyazaki Kanko Hotel,
in Miyazki, Kyushu Island and the attendance was as usual
very high with ~460 presentations scheduled.
Each day the conference ran three parallel sessions of 107
talks in total. Of these 21 of the talks were given at
International Sessions (official language in English). In
addition there were 348 poster allocations in the meeting.
There were also 5 special addresses and award addresses
as listed below.
The Japanese Photochemistry Association Lectureship Award (2011) Prof. Shunichi Fukuzumi (Osaka Univ., ALCA,
JST) “Progress toward Artificial Photosynthesis”
The Japanese Photochemistry Association Lectureship Award (2011) Prof. Toshihiko NAGAMURA (Kitakyushu Natl.
Col. Technol.) “Photochemistry and Photophysics for Molecular Photonics”
Lectureship Award for Asian and Oceanian Photochemist Sponsored by Eikosha (2011) Prof. Chien‐Tien Chen
(Department of Chemistry, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan) “Doubly Ortho‐linked Triarylethene,
Diarylamine, and Spirofluorene Hybrids for Chirochromic Optical Switch and Optoelectronic Applications”
8The 24th Japanese Photochemistry Association Award (2010) Prof. Hiroshi Ikeda (Osaka Pref. Univ.) “Elucidation of
Mechanism for Organic Photoinduced Electron‐transfer Reactions and Its Development into Luminescence
Chemistry”
The 24th Japanese Photochemistry Association Award (2010) Prof. Takehiko Wada (IMRAM, Tohoku Univ.)“Supramolecular Photochirogenesis with Bio‐ and Biorelated Molecules”
The 2011 JPA Awards were announced as follows
The JPA Award ‐ Ryuzi Katoh (Nihon University)
The JPA Award for Young Photochemists ‐ Yasuhiro Shiraishi (Osaka University) & Vasudevan Pillai Biju (AIST)The JPA Achievement Award ‐ Teijiro Ichimura (Prof. Emeritus, Tokyo Institute of Technology)
We are greatly looking forwards to the next chance to participate in the annual JPA event, which will this year beheld in Tokyo Institute of Technology in September (see conference announcements).
Report by Evan Laurence Williams (Singapore)9Regional News
Introduction to Regional News
This section of the newsletter is for APA members from different regions to highlight particular events or launchingof initiatives in your region. Any regional news can be proposed for this section, except for conferences, which will
be covered in the conference reports and upcoming conference sections.

New Journal Launch by the KSP Korea.
Last
month
the
KoreanSocietyof
Photochemistry (KSP) launched a new English
language photochemistry journal entitled “Rapid
Communications in Photoscience” (RCP)The details for submission of communication papers can be accessed through the KSP website(http://photos.or.kr/2010/) or directly from the journal website:
http://www.rcp.or.kr/journal.do;jsessionid=1C4BB933660B17A38E6F2CF9AF8EB7F2.acoms40_node1?method=jou
rnalintro&journalSeq=J000038
RCP will be published quarterly

Japan one year after the disaster.
As you would all be aware, just over one year ago our Japanese members suffered an almost unimaginable disasterin the form of an enormous magnitude 9 earthquake, a massive Tsunami and a major nuclear incident. The
enormity of the tragedy can only be imagined by many of us. However, just over one year later things are gettingback to normal. We have two colleagues based in regions very much affected by the events in Nihon University in
Fukushima and in Tohoku University in Sendai.
From Fukushima. Professor Ryuzi Katoh has just set up his lab in Nihon University since the nuclear incident which
saw large areas around the Fukushima Daiichi (Number One) plant evacuated up to 80km. Although many fear
radiation as a silent killer, in fact it is not so silent because unlike many chemicals it can be detected in tinyquantities. Professor Katoh has this to say.

“As you imagine, in our campus we recovered almost completely from last year disasters except forthat radiation level is bit higher than usual value. We can do research work as usual. To confirm
safety from radiation effect, our university purchased a radiation counter and check food and waterin our campus routinely. Of course, no radiation can be detected. But this may provide students withpeace of mind.”
From Sendai. Things in Sendai were immediately more serious as they were affected by all three aspects of thedisaster. They had earthquake damage, infrastructure and more importantly people were highly affected by thetsunami and to top it all they also had elevated radiation levels and there were fears for neighboring nuclear plants
in that area too. Thankfully those latter fears soon subsided and people could begin the long reconstruction work
ahead of them. Although the earthquake was immense very few casualties occurred directly from it. Rather people
suffered most from the subsequent tsunami. Professor Hiroshi Fukumura from Tohoku University in Japan had thisto say just after the disaster.

10

“The tsunami was almost blocked

Image: the area flooded by the tsunami (in pink) did not reach to
the University campus

by the highway running in parallelwith the coastal line. The airport
was destroyed seriously but now
several flights a day are available
between Tokyo and Sendai as well
as Osaka and Sendai. Fortunately
the famous Matsushima area
seems to remain intact. I heard themain temple there was not
destroyed.
So
you
would
understand that our university
campus was not damaged by thetsunami. Then, how serious are thedamages of our campus by theearthquake? As you may know themain building of Department ofChemistry was partly damaged.
Debris fell and was piled up at thejunction between the main part ofthe building and the elevator hall.
The inside of all lab rooms at themain building looked horrible and I
felt it like a miracle that nobody
was injured and all students andstaff members could safely escapefrom the mess. Fortunately nearly
3 years ago our lab has moved tothe top floor of a three-story
building and in this time the total
damage by the quake wasrelatively small. You may see myoffice is a little untidy as usual”

Again just after the disaster Fukumura-sensei reported - “Another concern is the situationof the nuclear power plant complex. Our lab has detectors for x-ray so that we can monitor
radiation levels by ourselves. We measured the radiation levels in my apartment from the
middle of March to the beginning of April. As you can see, the levels were sufficiently low
and even gradually decaying. Recently Fukushima University reported the radiation levels
from 372 points surrounding the plant complex. The results suggests that geographical11

Images: Top ‐ The junction of the main building
at an upper floor (from the main side).
Top right ‐ the inside of a lab room,
Bottom right – Professor Fukumura’s office, in Tohoku
University, just after the quake

features and local winds affect thepollution. The area showing values
higher than 2.5 micro Sv/h seems toremain within 70 to 80 km from theplant complex even at the northwest
direction. If you live one year at a place
where the radiation level is 2.5 micro
Sv/h in an area in Fukushima
Prefecture,
the total level you would
Image: Above - some dramatic tsunami damage
receive is 22 mSv which is still less than
to a gas stand in the area December 10th 2011.
a half of the maximum acceptable levelfor people who handle radioactive
materials.”12

Image left - Radiation levels in Japan and
Top - in Professor Fukumara’s apartment
from last year.
Still Sanding. Despite the enormity of events the buildings in Tohoku University were still standing,
although they had to be assessed for damage. This was largely due to forward planning for such an event.
As you can see the exterior of the chemistry building shows novisible signs of damage. You will notice that it has structural
strengthening with K‐braces extending from the ground floor(1st) to the 5th Floor. These structural supports were installed
just a few years before in preparation for just such an event.
The usual Miyagi‐Oki 7.4 magnitude earthquake had been
expected at any time and there had been a magnitude 7.0 in
2003 and a magnitude 7.2 earthquake in 2005 emanating froma similar region of the fault line.
One year on from the quake Professor Fukumura has this tosay: “Of course we got a serious damage by the quake

Image: Main Chemistry building in Tohoku and I have to admit that our lab's activity has all but
stopped nearly one year to be honest. In a sense
University just after the quake.

nothing can compensate our scientific loss and more importantly our humanitarian loss as a country.
But yet, assistance from the government has helped us to get back onto our feet. We will be back tostrength and beyond soon enough.
On the last Friday (20th April 2012), our lab went to the Shiroishi castle for "Hanami" (Cherry
Blossom Viewing Party). I carried a GM counter from our lab and measured the background level
there. Shiroishi locates just about a half way to Fukushima and the level is reported to a little higher
13than in Sendai. I wanted to check this by myself. The result is exactly more than double of the
Sendai area while it still remains in a very safe level from the world standard.”

Image: Left ‐ Ski photo 10 March 2012 Zao. Middle ‐ Prof Fukumura measuring radiation levels and Right ‐ Hanami
photo both taken in 20 April 2012. Life gets back to normal.
So one year on we can report that it is not only safe to visit Japan, but we can expect that research output willcontinue from strength to strength. But as Professor Fukumura says “The life in the lab is just as before, but weshould not forget that the area nearby beaches have not been restored yet, remaining as just after the tsunami
even now.” This can be seen in the picture of the damaged gas stand taken on December 10th 2010. So let’s keep
our thoughts to the people of Japan and wish them more strength in their recovery.
Material supplied By Professor Hiroshi Fukumura (Tohoku
University) and Professor Ryuzi Kaotoh (Nihon University)

14Regional Focus – APA Singapore.
Introduction to Regional Focus
The regional Focus section is intended to give information on the activities of the APA members in different areasof the Asian and Oceanian geographic location. This is an opportunity for people to disseminate and learn from theactivities in other regions. Every issue of the newsletter we will be inviting a different region to highlight a few of
their activities, big or small, so that APA as a whole can potentially interact better over the catchment area of APA
members. It is really up to the different regions to decide on the length and format of the regional focus when it
becomes their turn.
APA‐Singapore
Singapore is often referred to as the red dot country, because when
it is marked on a map as Singapore the City, the red dot actually
covers the entire area of Singapore the Country. Another symbol ofSingapore is the Merlion, which is a hybrid of a lion’s head and and afishes tail. Rather like a Mermaid, but less attractive. Anyway this iswhat we incorporated into our chapters’ APA membership card as
symbols of our country. The red dot in a chemical flask with thenotation for light energy and the red dot on the stopper of a cuvettefor spectroscopy. The mm‐Merlion was an obvious choice. Actually
this mm‐Merlion was created by the team of Masahiro Goto in NIMS
Tsukuba Japan by laser implantation of coumarin molecules at a
focus of a microscope objective, but as he is a friend of mine heallows us to use this as our symbol.
Singapore is a small and pragmatic country with a very great
ambition to be prominent in the world. Maybe like a small childfighting for recognition from the bigger children. Well it has certainly
got itself noticed. Singapore is bustling with scientists from all over
the world, employed by the universities (National University ofSingapore, NUS, & Nanyang Technological University, NTU)
polytechnics and Research Institutes. Most of the research institutes
come under the umbrella of A*STAR (The Agency for Science
Technology and Research).
A*STAR is split into the BMRC (Biomedical Research Council) and SERC (the Science and Engineering ResearchCouncil) and each of these has over 7 component institutes with many acronyms. Yes acronyms are all over theplace in Singapore. Everything is shortened to some combination of the component letters of its name.
When I said that Singapore is pragmatic, in science this means that they are attracted very much by R&D withapplications and commercial value. Well this is becoming the case more and more throughout the world. Despite
this, fundamental subjects like photochemistry are still well represented in the R&D make up of Singapore. It canusually be found in pockets of other biomedical, biological, and renewable energy biased R&D. For example
Singapore hosts SERIS – the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore, headed by Professor Joachim Luther.
Professor Luther was once the head of the renowned Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Freiburg,
Germany. But upon retiring there in 2006, he became the head of SERIS. He heads a team that includes Prof Armin
Aberle as the Deputy CEO of SERIS and Bram Hoex as their analysis and characterization expert.
As well as applied photochemistry in labs there are also labs carrying our pure photochemistry research for its own
sake. For example, Edwin Yeow, who obtained his PhD in Chemistry in 2000 under the supervision of Prof. Ken
15

Ghiggino at the University of Melbourne and did post‐doctoral stints at different research laboratories including
with Prof. Silvia Braslavsky (Max‐Planck Institut für Strahlenchemie), Prof. Ron Steer (University of Saskatchewan),Prof. Frans De Schryver and Prof. Johan Hofkens (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is based at NTU as an AssistantProfessor in the Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry. His current research interests involve utilizing both
fluorescence and surface‐enhance Raman spectroscopy and single‐molecule detection techniques to study
important processes occurring in materials chemistry, polymer physics and biological chemistry.
Singapore also houses the Bio‐optics lab in NUS Bioengineering currently headed by Colin Sheppard (until the 27th
April this year that is). Although Colin is departing the team there will continue their excellent research into
advanced imaging techniques including SHG, CARS, two‐photon microscopy, optical coherence tomography,
confocal microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Colin has been at the very forefront of optics research during his
illustrious career and he will be continuing the good work in Italy. This is as sad time when we have to say goodbye
to Colin and to wish him the very best in his new venture. Colin has been a catalyst for optics activity and has been
key in attracting several topoptical conference series to try Singapore as the host nation. That includes this year’s
highly successful Focus On Microscopy conference FOM2012.
Also at NTU, The BioFemtoLab in the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Division of Physics and Applied
Physics, was founded in 2009 (M.‐E. Michel‐Beyerle, G.G. Gurzadyan). The present focus of their research is on
structure‐based excited state and electron transfer dynamics in proteins and DNA in solution and upon
immobilization including interaction of biopolymers with small molecules and reaching out to light‐induced repairof nucleosomes. In parallel to studies of biosystems, optimization principles for organic and hybrid solar cells aredeveloped. Their investigations reach out to femtosecond dynamics of quasiparticles in graphene, to ultrafast
exciton processes in organic crystals and nanostructures as well as to surface generation of phonons and heattransfer in thin metallic films. The laboratory is equipped with modern ultrafast spectroscopy instrumentation
involving femtosecond pump‐probe, fluorescence single photon counting and upconversion spectrometers, with aconfocal microscope allowing for fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM), nanosecond flash‐photolysis, as well asbasic steady‐state spectrophotometers and spectrofluorometers.
The Biophysical Fluorescence Laboratory of Thorsten
Wohland is interested in developing new fluorescence
spectroscopy tools that can be applied in living systems forthe quantitative measurement of biomolecular interactions
and functions. The researchers focus on fluorescencecorrelation spectroscopy (FCS), a tool that measures
fluorescence fluctuations from small observation volumes.
Due to its single molecule sensitivity FCS can determine
molecular concentrations, diffusion coefficients andbiomolecular affinities even at very low concentrations.
Recently the group extended the approach of FCS, which isThorsten Wohland (back) and his student Foo Yong typically performed at a single spot in a confocal system, to acamera based approach in which millions of points can be
Hwee (at the microscope).
measured simultaneously in an imaging format(http://cbis.nus.edu.sg/our‐team/thorsten‐wohland/). [1‐4]16This opens now the possibility to produce maps ofdiffusion coefficients, concentrations (in contrast to
simple intensity images) and in the future biomolecularinteraction maps.
Image: Whole cell maps of the number of particles
detected at every pixel, N, and the diffusion coefficient,
D. In contrast to simple intensity images these maps
contain quantitative information about concentrations
and molecular processes.
References[1] Kannan, B. et al. Spatially resolved total internal reflection fluorescencecorrelation microscopy using an electron multiplying charge coupled device
camera. Analytical Chemistry 79, 4463‐4470 (2007).
[2] Sankaran, J., Manna, M., Guo, L., Kraut, R. & Wohland, T. Diffusion,
Transport, and Cell Membrane Organization Investigated by Imaging
Fluorescence Cross‐Correlation Spectroscopy. Biophysj 97, 2630‐2639 (2009).
[3] Sankaran, J., Shi, X., Ho, L.Y., Stelzer, E.H.K. & Wohland, T. ImFCS: asoftware for imaging FCS data analysis and visualization. Optics express 18,
25468‐25481 (2010).
[4] Wohland, T., Shi, X., Sankaran, J. & Stelzer, E. Single plane illumination
fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (SPIM‐FCS) probes inhomogeneous
three‐dimensional environments. Optics express 18, 10627–10641 (2010).

The Institute of Medical Biology Microscopy Unit (IMU) is a core technology platform is largely run by Graham
Wright. Their mission is to provide light and electron microscopy instrumentation along with image processing andanalysis software and the expertise to facilitate research in molecular, cell and developmental biology. As well as
standard widefield and confocal microscopy IMU focuses on seven areas of advanced imaging: 3D imaging, F‐
techniques, High content imaging, Live‐cell imaging, Super‐resolution microscopy, Electron microscopy, Image
analysis & processing. More information about IMU can be found on our website:
http://www.imb.a‐star.edu.sg/imu/index.html
The light microscope suite is located in the Immunos building and the electron microscopy suite is located inbasement 2 of the building. Both reside in Singapore's Biopolis research campus. IMU runs regular training courses
for basic microscopy, confocal, advanced confocal techniques, live‐cell imaging and image analysis. Specific training
on our microscope systems is organised for the researchers when they need to use a given technique.
In addition, IMU runs workshops and conferences bringing world experts to Biopolis to aid technology transfer andencourage collaboration. IMU has many links with microscopy facilities worldwide and collaborates withresearchers locally and internationally through grant funded projects. Regular visitors are the Picoquant team andMarkus Sauer.
The latest light microscope installed was the DeltaVision OMX
superresolution microscope, from Applied Precision (now part of GE). This
microscope can surpass Abbe's long‐standing diffraction limit and achieve
resolution down to 120 nm in multiple channels and 3D samples by 3D
structured illumination microscopy (3D‐SIM) and even down to 30 nm's by
their localisation technique called Monet in TIRF mode. We are using thisgain in resolution to shed new light on the keratin intermediate filaments,
sensory and migratory structures within cells and the nuclear organisation.
Image: Graham Wright and John Common, IMB: A projected structured
illumination image of human keratinocyte cells immuno‐labelled withKeratin
5, desmoplakinand DAPI.
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Photochemistry comes alive. The Zebrafish facility of Vladimir Korzh in IMCB.
Zebrafish is gaining popularity for analysis of photochemical effects in living animals
The discovery of green fluorescent protein (GFP) in jellyfish
propels visualization and tracking capabilities in the life
sciences to a new level. This promoted the research anddevelopment of other FPs in coral polyps, combjellies,
copepods and lancelets (Matz et al., 1999). In recognition of
their pioneering research in GFP, Osamu Shimamura, Martin
Chalfie, and Roger Tsien (Chalfie et al., 1994; Shimomura etal., 1962) were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2008. In aparallel development, the increase in transgenesis efficiency
by transposon‐mediated genome integration eases theeffort in generating zebrafish transgenics (Parinov et al.,2004). The optically translucent larvae easily allow thedetection of transgene expression and establishment oftransgenic lines expressing FPs. This makes generating acollection of such lines an achievable task for any
laboratory. In result, FPs became efficient noninvasive tools
for visualizing and monitoring processes taking place inliving cells or whole organisms. And this can be done indifferent colors!
Recent development even uses some FPs as
photochemically active agents. A key example is KillerRed(KR). It is a dimeric red fluorescent protein characterized by
an excitation and emission maxima at 585 and 610 nm,
respectively. KR was engineered from a non‐fluorescent andnon‐phototoxic chromoprotein, anm2CP of jellyfish.
Upon irradiation by green light (520–590 nm) KR is photobleached resulting in efficient generation of the reactive
oxygen species (ROS; Bulina et al., 2006). ROS is a by‐product of cell metabolism implicated in human diseases(Halliwell and Gutteridge, 1986). It affects cells in a dose‐dependent manner. Metabolically active tissues with little
antioxidant capabilities such as the brain and heart are most sensitive to oxidative stress (Madamanchi et al.,2005). Several potential photochemical applications of KR include, chromophore‐assisted light inactivation oftarget molecules, targeted cell killing, photodynamic therapy and study of signal transduction pathways. In
Singapore the transposon‐mediated transgenesis approach was used to generate a collection of zebrafish
transgenics that expresses KR in various tissues. These transgenic lines were used to study the impact of oxidative
stress on various organs (Teh et al., 2010). For example, green light illumination in two of these transgenics
specifically induces heart failure and affects cell viability in the hindbrain of initially healthy larvae. The mode ofaction involves illumination triggered ROS production by KR, which in turn reduces the pumping efficiency of theheart (heart failure) and /or cell death in dose‐dependent manner (Teh et al., 2010). In another set of behavioral
experiments the transgenics expressing KR in specific part of the brain (habenula) was used to illustrate a role ofthis structure in stress avoidance behavior. This research suggested that some anxiety disorders in human patients
could be due to disturbance of the habenula function. These studies illustrate recent progress in application ofphotochemistry for research in developmental biology, neurobiology and bioimaging (reviewed Korzh et al., 2011).

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Image: Several embryos oftransgenic lines of zebrafish
expressing KR in tissue‐
specific manner (from Teh etal., 2010, BMC Dev Biol,
10:110). Abbreviations: chp –choroid plexus, ha –habenula, hb – hindbrain,
hyp – hypothalamus, ot –optic tectum, r3 and r5 –rhombomeres (parts ofhindbrain).

References[1] Shimomura O, Johnson FH, Saiga Y. (1962) Extraction, purification and properties of aequorin, a bioluminescent protein from the luminous hydromedusan,
Aequorea. J Cell Comp Physiol 59:223–239.
[2] Chalfie M, Tu Y, Euskirchen G, Ward W, Prasher DC. (1994) Green fluorescent protein as a marker for gene expression. Science 263:802–805.
[3]Matz MV, Fradkov AF, Labas YA, Savitsky AP, Zaraisky AG, Markelov ML, et al. (1999) Fluorescent proteins from nonbioluminescent Anthozoa species. Nat
Biotechnol 17: 969–973.
[4] Parinov S, Kondrichin I, Korzh V, Emelyanov A. (2004) Tol2 transposon‐mediated enhancer trap to identify developmentally regulated zebrafish genes invivo. Dev Dyn 231(2):449‐459.
[5] Kondrychyn I, Garcia‐Lecea M, Emelyanov A, Parinov S, Korzh V. (2009) Genomewide
analysis of Tol2 transposon reintegration in zebrafish. BMC Genomics 10:418.
[6] Bulina ME, Lukyanov KA, Britanova OV, Onichtchouk D, Lukyanov S, Chudakov DM (2006) Chromophore‐assisted light inactivation (CALI) using thephototoxic fluorescent protein KillerRed. Nat Protoc 1(2):947‐953.
[7] Halliwell B, Gutteridge JM. (1985) The importance of free radicals and catalytic metal ions in human diseases. Mol Aspects Med 8(2):89‐193.
[8] Madamanchi NR, Vendrov A, Runge MS. (2005) Oxidative stress and vascular disease. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 25(1):29‐38.
[9] Teh C, Chudakov D, Poon KL, Mamedov IZ, Sek JY, Shidlovsky K, Lukyanov S, Korzh V. (2010) Optogenetic in vivo cell manipulation using KillerRed‐
expressing zebrafish transgenics. BMC Dev Biol, 10:110[10] Lee A, Mathuru AS, Teh C, Kibat C, Korzh V, Penney TB, Jesuthasan S. (2010) The habenula prevents helpless behavior in larval zebrafish. Curr Biol
20(24):2211‐2216.
[11] Korzh V, Teh C, Kondrychyn I, Chudakov DM, Lukyanov S. (2011) Visualizing compound transgenic zebrafish in development: a tale of GFP and KillerRed.
Zebrafish Mar;8(1):23‐9.

My team: Another team working on photochemistry in
Singapore is the one to which I belong. The team includes
Guo Hongchen (photothermal microscopy) Sergey Gorelik(Brewster angle spectroscopy and monolayers) Gomathy
Sandhya Subramanian (OPV & Raman and FLIM
bioimaging) Evan Laurence Williams (OPV) David
Paramelle and Paul Free (nanoparticle probe preparations)
Image: Distribution of glucose metabolites during Mehdi Rouhani (Student – inorganic photochromism)
adipogeneseis imaged using Raman microscopy.
Bernhard Siebenhofer (student from Austrian Institute ofTechnology co‐supervised with Dr Christoph Nowak AIT /CBSS NTU).
Ex‐members (that we can always rely on) include Phang In Yee (AFM) Con Stylianou (stem cells) and Song Hongyan(organic chemistry). We are so diverse that I cannot really think of a good title for the team and we like to do
whatever takes our interest and to remain scientifically free. Additionally, since we are so diverse, it is hard to tell19

who actually runs what in the team, so we usually just defer to the person with the most knowledge or the best
idea at the time and follow him or her.

Images: Live cell imaging – Left: Actin filaments visualized with liquid AFM and actin staining dyes. Right: Liquid
AFM images Advancing and retracting lamellapodia in fibroblastic cells. (AFM by Dr Phang In Yee, Confocal image
by Gomathy Sandhya Subramanian).
We have collaborations with local teams in NUS (Martin Lear) the BMRC (Bob Robinson, David Popp, Victor
Nurcombe and Simon Cool) as well as internationally with Ryuzi Katoh (Nihon University Fukushima) and Akihiro
Furube (Tsukuba University) in Japan, Professor David G. Fernig (University of Liverpool) and Trevor Smith(University of Melbourne) and Hiroshi Fukumura (Tohoku University). Some of these are funded by the A*STAR
joint council office and the A*STAR‐JST cooperative grants. At the end of this article I will highlight exchange andcollaborative opportunities that allow for international cooperation.
An important aspect of our work isdeveloping new ways of measuring
photochemical processes. For example
photothermal
microscopy
andTransient Brewster angle microscopy
and Reflectometry.
We have been developing both
imaging and spectroscopic tools to
make observations of monolayers.
Recently we have published two novel
methods of making nanosecond pump‐probe kinetic measurements inmonolayers.
Image: 2‐dimensional condensation in an irradiated spiropyran‐ The methods rely on the minimization
octadecanol monolayer after conversion to merocyanine. (Collaboration of reflectivity at Brewster’s angle andwith Professor Fukumura Tohoku University – images measured in the dependence of the minimum of
the real and imaginary parts of
Tohoku).
refractive index.

20

Images: Methods for making Brewster angle reflectometry measurements in monolayers. The principle of themethod and some time‐resolved data for photoconversion in a spiropyran monolayer on water.
References[1] Yihua Li, Sergey Gorelik, Nikodem Tomczak, Hongyan Song Martin J. Lear, Jonthan Hobley. Optical detection of photo‐activated protein adsorption using
Brewster angle microscopy, IEEE Photonics Global (IPGC), 1‐2 (2008) 304‐307.
[2] Sandhya Subramanian Gomathy, Con Stylianou, In Yee. Phang, Simon Cool, Victor Nurcombe, Martin J. Lear and Jonathan Hobley. Raman Mapping Glucose
Metabolism During Adipogenesis From Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells IEEE Photonics Global (IPGC), (2010)1‐2[3] Paul F. Free, David Paramelle, Michael Bosman, Jonathan Hobley, and David G. Fernig, Synthesis of silver nanoparticles with monovalently functionalized
self‐assembled monolayers, Aust. J. Chem. 65, 275‐282 (2012)[4] Xinyue Chen, Wafaa W. Qoutah, Paul Free, Jonathan Hobley, David G. Fernig and David Paramelle, Features of thiolated ligands promoting resistance toligand exchange in self‐assembled monolayers on gold nanoparticles, Aust. J. Chem. 65 (2012) 266‐274[5] Bernhard Siebenhofer, Sergey Gorelik, Anton V. Sadovoy, Martin J. Lear, Song Hongyan, Christoph
Nowak, Jonathan Hobley, Photoconversion of spiropyran to merocyanine in a monolayer observed using nanosecond pump‐probe Brewster‐angle
reflectometry, Aust. J. Chem. 65 (2012) 283‐289[6] Mehdi Rouhani, Sergey Gorelik, Jonathan Hobley, Shi Jie Wang, Evan Lawrence Williams and Yong Lim Foo, Delayed onset of photochromism inmolybdenum oxide films caused by photo‐induced defect formation, Sci & Technol. Adv. Mater. 12 (2011) 055010 1‐7[7] 45) Gorelik, Hong Y. Song, Martin J. Lear, Jonathan Hobley, Transient Brewster Angle Reflectometry of Spiropyran Monolayers, Photochemical andPhotobiological Sciences (Invited) 9(2) (2010) 141‐151.
[8] Lynn Yap, Jian Li, In Yee Phang, Lay Ting Ong, Jo'an Zhu‐En Ow, James Cho Hong Goh, Victor Nurcombe, Jonathan Hobley, Andre Choo, Steve Oh, Simon
Cool, William Birch, Defining a Threshold Surface Density of Vitronectin for the Stable Expansion of Human Embryonic Stem Cells, Tissue Engineering Part C:
Methods 17(2) (2011) 193‐207[9] Jonathan Hobley, Sergey Gorelik, Tomoya Oori, Shinji Kajimoto, Hiroshi Fukumura, Cooperative photoinduced two‐dimensional condensation in Langmuirfilms observed using nanosecond pump‐probe Brewster angle microscopy, Biointerphases, 5(3 ) (2010) Pages: FA105‐FA109[10] Kok Hao Chen, Jonathan Hobley; Yong‐Lim Foo, Xiaodi Su, Wide‐field single metal nanoparticle spectroscopy for high throughput localized surface
plasmon resonance sensing, Lab on a Chip 11(11) (2011) 1895‐1901[11] Jonathan Hobley, David Paramelle, Paul Free, Dave Fernig, Shinji Kajimoto, Sergey Gorelik, Photothermal Laser Material Interactions – From the
Sledgehammer to Nano‐GPS, Invited – Springer LNCS Series: Advances in Bio‐imaging: from Physics to Signal Understanding Issues: Advances in Intelligent andSoft Computing, Vol. 120 Loménie, Nicolas; Racoceanu, Daniel; Gouaillard, Alexandre (Eds.) 2012, 85‐111, ISBN 978‐3‐642‐25546‐5, Springer Heidelberg.

Collaboration opportunities in Singapore
By far the easiest way to collaborate with us here in Singapore is to get involved via student exchange programs.
Students can be funded to come to Singapore on short or long term visits under the following programs:
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SIPGA: Singapore International Pre‐Graduate Award. This is for final year undergraduates or Masters course
students to spend a period of time of up to 6 months in Singapore to work with a research group here.
Benefits: Monthly stipend of $1,500 (up to maximum of 6 months). Research attachment periods mayvary from 2 to 6 months.
ARAP: A*STAR Research Attachment Program. This is for PhD candidates to spend up to two years working with an
A*STAR co‐supervisor. The supervision is shared. However the PhD is always awarded by the home University ofthe student.
PhD Students may participate in this program provided your home university supervisor has a collaboration withan A*STAR researcher or if the University has signed an agreement with A*STAR, which can be arranged.
Benefits: Monthly stipend of S$2,500 for the period based at A*STAR, provided that student spends atleast one year at A*STAR, up to a maximum of 2 years.
One‐time settling‐in allowance of S$1,000.
One‐time airfare grant of S$1,500.
Research Calls: Several research calls come by for international collaborations. Historically these have alreadyoccurred between Japan (JST) and A*STAR, China and A*STAR and Australia and A*STAR. Additionally overseas
partners can join research teams within Singapore funded by the various funding bodies.
Networking.
Every couple of years in June to July Singapore holds the ICMAT conference which hosts up to 30 symposia. The
topics are variable, but they often contain areas relevant to photoscience. Keep a look out for this conference as
an opportunity to visit us here in Singapore. The last one was held in 2011 and we had a symposium on optics andimaging. The next one will be in 2013. http://www.mrs.org.sg/icmat2013/public.asp?page=home.asp

By: Cathleen Teh and Vladimir Korzh (ZebraFish), Throsten Wohland, Graham
Wright, Gagik G. Gurzadyan, Edwin Yeow.
Edited by Jonathan Hobley
22Submission of Materials to APA Newsletter.
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Types of contributions that will be considered include; letters, opinions, discussions, articles, technical reports,mini‐reviews, local and national photochemistry reports and news, historical articles, R&D opportunities,
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No part of this publication may be reproduced by a third party (i.e not the APA Newsletter Editor or theContributor) without prior permission by the authors (contributors) or the editors. A full acknowledgement on thesource of the materials should be given when parts of this Newsletter are reproduced by third parties even withpermission of the contributor or the Editors. The Editors will not give permission for reproduction by third parties
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