Prof. Dr. Sebastiaan Eeltink

General introduction

Sebastiaan Eeltink received his PhD degree in Chemistry (specialization Analytical Chemistry) in 2005 from the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands) for his dissertation “Packed and monolithic capillary columns for LC”. From 2005-2007 he conducted post-doctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, and was guest scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Here he developed novel column formats, including coated capillary columns and monolithic structures in microfluidic chips. In 2007 he joined Dionex (currently Thermo Fisher Scientific) and conducted research on packed and monolith column technology for ultra-high-pressure LC, two-dimensional LC, and nano LC.

In 2009 the National Fund for Scientific Research (FWO, Belgium) awarded him an Odysseus grant and currently he holds a position as research professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Free University of Brussels. He teaches courses in the field of separation sciences and is first or senior author of more than 70 scientific publications and 3 patent applications on spatial three-dimensional liquid chromatography.

Research

The main research themes in the Bio-Analytical Separation Science group are:

• Design and synthesis of novel column structures (g. monoliths, coatings) in capillary column formats and microfluidic chips and establishing a fundamental understanding between column structure and resulting chromatographic performance limits.

• Development of novel microfluidic chip technology, including:
  • A chip platform for ion-exchange separations, integrating the separation channel, membrane-suppressor technology, and electrodes for on-chip detection.
  • A microfluidic chip to modulate sample fractionation in conventional LC´
  • A microfluidic device for spatial 3D-LC. This is a novel separation concept in which analytes migrate to different positions in interconnected 3D microchannel structures.

• Advanced application development for life-science research (contemporary proteomics and biotechnology mixtures, and biopharmaceutical profiling).
  • Establishing high peak capacity (n_c >1000) and ultra-fast (1 min) gradient RP-LC-MS separations of proteomics samples.
  • Enhancing detection limits in LC with > one order of magnitude via post-column refocusing.
  • Method development for native protein separations and implementation in multi-dimensional LC workflows.
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Highlights (Bio-)Analytical Separation Science group

• Journal cover on Lab on a Chip (impact factor 6.115) featuring “Towards ultra-high peak capacities and peak-production rates using spatial three-dimensional liquid chromatography”.
• Sam Wouters awarded with People’s Choice Poster Award (1^st Virtual Symposium on Applied Separation Science – VSASS2015) for the poster entitled “A comprehensive study of the macro- and mesopores size distributions of polymer monoliths”.
• Best Poster Award for Jelle de Vos received for the poster ”A generic approach to post-column refocussing in liquid chromatography at the HPLC2015 conference in Geneva (CH).
• A multi-disciplinary research team from industry (RIC, Janssen Pharma, DSM, DOW Benelux, and Abundz) and academia (Vrije Univeristeit Brussel and University of Amsterdam) has been formed that brings together unique knowledge on separations science, chips technology, mass spectrometry, and applications. This team will address a method-development bottlenecks that hamper the successful and efficient application of (liquid) chromatography in industrial practice.

Selected publications

• Eeltink et al. High-resolution separations of protein isoforms with liquid chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry using polymer monolithic capillary columns. J. Chromatogr. A, 2011, 1218, 5504-5511.
• Vaast et al. Nanostructured porous polymer monolithic columns for capillary LC of peptides. J. Chromatogr. A, 2014, 1374, 171-179.
• Wouters et al. Towards ultra-high peak capacities and peak-production rates using spatial three-dimensional liquid chromatography. Lab Chip, 2015, 15, 4415-4422.