The 45th International Symposium on High Perfomance Liquid Phase Separations and Related Techniques (HPLC 2017), cochaired by Michal Holcapek and Frantisek Foret, was held 18-22 June in Prague, Czech Republic. This instalment covers some of the highlights observed at the symposium, including advances in large-molecule separations, multidimensional chromatography, and areas of growing application of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).,In addition, trends and perspectives on future developments in HPLC noted from the conference are presented.