Have a great weekend

Some weeks cannot be busier. I hope you had a more peaceful week than me, but I'm fine. Hope you have a great weekend. See you on Monday! 

C&EN: "Some tattoo inks in Europe contain banned pigments"

This news via C&EN's Krystal Vasquez: 

A new study that analyzed 10 inks commonly used in Europe found that 9 of them were out of compliance with the European Union’s Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation (Analyst 2024, DOI: 10.1039/D4AN00793J).

Nine tattoo inks were found to be noncompliant with the European Union's Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals regulation.

Under REACH, makers of tattoo inks and permanent makeup are required to list the products’ ingredients and reduce or eliminate compounds that could pose a risk to human or environmental health. For example, REACH recently banned two pigments common in blue and green inks, pigment green 7 and pigment blue 15:3, that the EU had also previously banned in hair color.

Of the nine noncompliant inks, the researchers determined that five had minor discrepancies; these inks did not contain any banned pigments, but their labels didn’t list all their ingredients. But four inks contained the banned pigment green 7, and two contained a variant of pigment blue 15. The researchers were unable to conclusively determine using their main method of analysis, Raman spectroscopy, whether the variant was the banned pigment blue 15:3.

Pretty interesting analysis - read the whole thing. 

I guess I don't really understand why there is an expectation (even in Europe) that tattoo inks would follow EU chemical regulations. (Who enforces REACH in EU countries, anyway?) Do people looking for tattoos ask about this? Is there a German Tattoo Safety Agency? 

Job posting: Senior Scientist - Data Science, Analytical Research and Development (Onsite), Merck, Rahway, NJ

Via Twitter, this position at Merck: 

The Analytical Research and Development organization in Rahway, NJ is seeking a motivated Senior Scientist with technical expertise in data science and an ability to apply digital solutions to support our Company's pipeline of small molecule drugs, peptides, biologics, and vaccines. This role will allow the candidate to solve complex scientific challenges through application of data modeling, analysis, and visualization tools. 

The successful candidate is expected to collaboratively work with synthetic, computational, and analytical scientists, understand their problem statements, and collaboratively implement and apply data science solutions. The candidate must be able to work proactively and independently and influence decisions and solutions spanning a wide diversity of problem statements across our Company Research Laboratories. The role will require the candidate to network across a range of departments and effectively collaborate with stakeholders. The candidate should exemplify positive ways of working which support diversity, inclusion, and a positive culture. The chosen candidate should have a demonstrated ability to publish and present research, including an established track record of interaction with the broader scientific community.

 Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested. 

The 2025 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 313 research/teaching positions and 26 teaching positions

The 2025 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 313 research/teaching positions and 26 teaching positions. 

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

To see trending, go to Andrew Spaeth's visualization of previous years' list.

On October 3, 2023, the 2024 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 329 research/teaching positions and 24 teaching positions.

Want to talk anonymously? Have an update on the status of a job search? Go to the first open thread. 

Don't forget to click on "load more" below the comment box for the full thread. 

Are you having problems accessing the Google Sheet because of a Google Documents error? Email me at chemjobber@gmail.com and I will send you an Excel download of the latest sheet. 

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 57 research/teaching positions and 11 teaching positions

 The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List (by Heather LeClerc and Daniyal Kiani) has 57 research/teaching positions and 11 teaching positions. 

Here is a link to the open thread for the year.