Inspire Genius: Chemistry Newsletter, Winter 2018/19

Department Of Chemistry.

Chemistry Issue 25 | Winter 2018/19

NEWSLETTER

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Our students do amazing things.

In this newsletter, there are lots of stories about the achievements of our undergraduates. We wanted to share them with you, to give you an idea of what you can do and where you can go as a University of Sheffield chemistry student.

On the opposite page, we tell you about Josh Lawlor, who won an award for his final year project. On the centre spread, you can read about James Baxter and John Cully, who built a microscope that was used in an international scientific study.

There are also stories about former undergraduates who have gone on to great things after graduation – winning prizes, working with major companies and even designing a smartphone app that might help you with your revision.

Thanks for reading – we’re looking forward to seeing you in September.

Professor Graham Leggett, Head of Department

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Undergraduate wins Europe research prize One of our undergraduates, Josh Lawlor, won a major prize for his final year research project. As a student on our MChem Chemistry course, he worked with Dr Rob Dawson on a carbon capture and storage project in his fourth year.

Josh’s findings were submitted for the Global Undergraduate Awards, which recognises the best work by undergraduate students around the world.

He was named European winner in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences category, and was invited to the Global Undergraduate Summit in Dublin.

For his project, Josh worked with Rob and a PhD student in the Dawson lab, Alex James, to synthesise a new type of material known

as hypercrosslinked polymers (HCP).

HCPs are being developed as safer, more cost effective alternative materials to use for carbon capture and sequestration – a big topic in modern science, aimed at mitigating the effects of global warming.

Using the process of Friedel-Crafts alkylation, Josh made HCPs with monoethanol amine, which were much more capable of absorbing CO2 compared to standard HCPs without the amine.

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Student microscope used in global study A research-grade microscope built by two undergraduate students in the Department of Chemistry has been used in a major international research project. The single-molecule FRET microscope was designed by John Cully and James Baxter.

The two students worked under the supervision of Dr Tim Craggs to build the microscope for their fourth year research project. Researchers in Tim’s team have since used it as part of an international study that has been published in the prestigious journal Nature Methods.

James said: “To me, one of the most rewarding aspects of the project was the freedom Dr Craggs gave us to develop and build the microscope in a creative way.

He was very supportive in our ideas and put a large amount of trust in us to build a research-grade instrument.”

The new study established a new method to measure exact distances within individual molecules down to the scale of one millionth of the width of a human hair.

It marked a signifcant improvement in the single-molecule FRET technology that James and John’s work was based on, which allows the movement and interaction of molecules to be monitored in real time in living cells.

To build the microscope, John used visual programming software LabVIEW to control the components that make it possible to study tiny biological samples. James then 3D printed numerous parts, using computeraided design software to work out how to arrange the lasers, lenses and fibre optics in the most efficient way.

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Above: The single-molecule FRET microscope built by undergraduate students James Baxter and John Cully Right: John and James with their microscope in the Biophysical Imaging Centre at the University of Sheffield

Steve hits 600th paper Professor Steve Armes has hit an incredible scientific landmark.

He recently published his 600th research paper, only three-anda-half years after his 500th. For comparison, the journal Nature publishes around 800 papers each year, sourced from the entire global scientific community.

Steve, who was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014, teaches polymer and colloid science to our undergraduates, and gives lectures on the fundamental chemistry behind products such as paint, shampoo, suncream and chocolate.

His recent publications include a study led by Amy Cockram, who did our MChem Chemistry course and is now finishing her PhD under Steve's supervision.

“One of the most rewarding aspects of the project was the freedom Dr Craggs gave us to develop and build the microscope in a creative way.”

During her PhD she worked with AkzoNobel, Europe’s biggest paints and coatings company, on a project using their £1 million synthesis robot facility. The findings were featured on the cover of a Royal Society of Chemistry journal, Reaction Chemistry and Engineering. ●

James Baxter

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Researcher wins prize for women in science Kirsty Smitten, one of our MChem Chemistry graduates, has won a national prize for women in science. She’s now working with Professor Jim Thomas on antimicrobial resistance, one of the major scientific challenges of the 21st century.

Kirsty topped the Chemistry category in The Nova Prize awards run by consultancy firm EY and student news website The Tab. She said: “It feels good to win, and it was especially rewarding to hear the nice comments the judging panel made about my research. The judging panel was comprised of top professors across all science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, and heads of corporate companies.”

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For her PhD project, Kirsty is working on new antimicrobial compounds, which could replace traditional antibiotics that many bacteria have now become resistant to.

She was inspired to do a PhD in biological chemistry after doing a project on enzyme kinetics in the final year of her undergraduate degree, alongside the Metals in Medicine course led by her supervisor, Professor Jim Thomas. ●

Smartphone app can bring particles to life A new smartphone app that allows you to see how atoms and molecules move in the world around them in unprecedented detail has been developed by a team including one of our students, Robert Shaw.

Robert, who did his undergraduate degree in our department and is now working on a PhD with Dr Grant Hill, helped develop the free app, which is called Argon.

The app acts as a molecular dynamics simulator and can be used by scientists to model the behaviour of atoms, molecules and large biological structures. It can also serve as a study tool for chemistry students from GCSE to PhD level.

“This is what we’re trying to inspire with Argon. It gives people an opportunity to play around with atoms and molecules in a way that can be completely unique to them in order to learn more about the way they are influenced by environmental changes.” ●

Scan the QR code below to download Argon on the iPhone App Store...

From watching crystals form at low temperatures to seeing particles bounding around under extreme heat, the app allows people to quickly simulate different environmental settings and instantly see the impact they have on the world at a microscopic level.

Robert said: “Some of the world’s most important scientific discoveries were made by people who were experimenting and just exploring science in a way that was fun to them without really knowing what their work might lead to.

...or visit www.argonmd.co.uk.

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The photographs on the cover were taken at our undergraduate open day in October. If you’ve been offered a place on one of our undergraduate degrees, you’ll be invited to another open day so we can get to know each other a little better.

Further information on all our courses can be found at www.sheffield.ac.uk/chemistry Contact: Admissions Office Email: chemistry-admissions@sheffield.ac.uk Department of Chemistry The University of Sheffield Brook Hill Sheffield S3 7HF SheffieldChem SheffieldChem sheffield.chem 8