Busy start to the XXXV IULTCS Congress
26/06/2019
One highlight was the opening keynote, the Heidemann Lecture, presented in 2019 by Professor Kheng Lim Goh, research leader of the Advanced Composite Research Group at Newcastle University in Singapore and the Newcastle Research and Innovation Institute, Singapore.
Every IULTCS Congress now opens with the Heidemann Lecture, named in honour of collagen expert Professor Dr Eckhardt Heidemann, who died in 1999.
Professor Goh chose ‘As tough as leather: macro to nano scale perspectives of collagen stability’ as the title of his lecture, stating that the most important function of collagen is a mechanical one and that findings from recent studies on the mechanics of collagen in connective tissue could enable structural biologists to establish a complete understanding of its functional significance. This understanding, he said, could then direct the development of new technology including advances in leather design and production.
The rest of the first day’s programme comprised more than 20 lectures, with the day split into three sessions, each headed by a keynote address. Topics discussed included the circular economy with bio-based solutions and why sulfide unhairing might not be as fully understood as we have imagined.
Prior to the final session of the day, the programme included a ‘speed science’ section in which six speakers had just three minutes to present their work. This novel format was introduced in an effort to allow more presentations than organisers have been able to fit in traditionally.
Image shows Professor Kheng Lim Goh receiving recognition for delivering the 2019 Heidemann Lecture from Dr Michael Meyer, head of the scientific committee for the XXXV IULTCS Congress.
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