Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften-ISAS-e.V.

The "Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften – ISAS – e.V." runs different sites in Dortmund and Berlin. The institute is a member of the Leibniz Association and is funded by the federal and state governments. It is the statutable function of ISAS to promote research in the analytical sciences. As member of the Leibniz Association, the institute commits itself to the motto “Theoria cum Praxi” and conducts theme-based research for the benefit and good of humankind. What is more, ISAS considers analytics as a motor of modern sciences: Only if analytical methods and tools are consistently checked, optimized and refined, then research will make progress in the long run. The aims of the institute are summarized in the following mission statement: "ISAS seeks solutions to analytical problems and to this end develops new or improved measuring principles, methods and instruments. Research and development at ISAS focus on spectroscopical methods and on the analytical contribution to solving problems in material and life sciences." In the centre of our work stand the two core themes "New Materials" and "Biomolecules". The institute covers the spectrum from fundamental research via the development of new or improved analytical procedures, techniques and instruments through to the production of prototypes and to testing the research results on applications in other scientific fields. The institute can only accomplish its tasks by interdisciplinary cooperation of physicists, (bio-)chemists and biologists who concertedly define analytical problems that cannot be solved with a single analytical method. Modern analytics demand the integration of different methods into an analytical strategy. The basic purpose is to detect as many of the following parameters as possible: type of molecule, molecular structure, number of molecules, location and time. We want to answer the question: What amount of which substance is when at which place? From this integrative multimethod concept, the institute deduces scientific problems that address the development of methods and instruments in qualitative and quantitative analytics as well as in time and spatially resolved analytics in material and life sciences. To further sharpen the profile of ISAS, project groups with similar topics were summarized in two main research departments. The project groups for material analysis and interface spectroscopy now belong to Research Department I (Material and Interface Analytics), whereas the project groups for proteomics, metabolomics and miniaturization were integrated into Research Department II (Bioanalytics). As both departments often address similar analytical problems – though on different space and time scales – they have a lot of links for interdisciplinary cooperations.