The Tenth International Symposium on the Synthesis and Applications of Isotopes and Isotopically Labelled Compounds was held June 14-18, 2009 at the historic Hilton Chicago overlooking beautiful Lake Michigan. Chicago is a vibrant culturally diverse city famous for its the world class museums, shopping, sport teams, theater, architecture, and great restaurants which gave participants additional activities to enjoy outside of the symposium. The Symposium was Co-Sponsored by the International Isotope Society (IIS) and The Society for Whole-Body Autoradiography (SWBA) in conjunction with the World Council on Isotopes (WCI). Over 250 scientists and vendors representing 23 countries participated in the 4.5 day symposium.
The symposium was officially opened on Monday morning with a welcome address by Brad Maxwell, John Kennington and Gary Rotert, co-organizers of the symposium. This was followed by the International Isotope Society Business Meeting led by 2009 IIS President William Wheeler. Reports were presented by David Hesk the Executive Secretary of the IIS, Scott Landvatter, the Chief Financial Officer of the IIS and Crist Filer, Chairman of the 2009 Elections Committee. This was immediately followed by a Special Memorial Lecture Series honoring the Late Professor John Jones presented by two of Professor Jones' former students and one of his colleagues. The remainder of the Symposium followed in the successful format of the previous nine symposia with each morning starting with a one hour Plenary Lecture and a one hour Sponsored Lecture, followed by parallel oral sessions for the remainder of each day. The scientific program consisted of three Plenary Lectures, three Sponsored Lectures, 64 Oral Presentations including a Special Wiley Young Investigators Session and 63 Poster Presentations.