This section contains reports and reflections on the Future Scientist Summer school as well as presentations students delivered at University of Manchester and University of Cambridge during the summer school
A series of advanced Chemistry lectures from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Manchester.
The University of Manchester
School of Chemistry
Monday 29th July, 2019 – Friday 2nd August, 2019
Host: Prof Patrick O’Malley
Timetable (Minor changes can be mentioned on arrival)
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Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
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Morning (10-12) |
Session 1, Introduction/Research in the School of Chemistry/assignment of research topics/ guided tour of School and University |
Session 3, Conquering Molecular Symmetry Prof Patrick O’Malley
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Session 5, Advanced Techniques in Analytical Chemistry Prof Phil Riby
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Session 7, Quantum and
Computational
Chemistry
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Session 9, Graphene Centre Visit |
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Afternoon (2-4) |
Session 2, 1. Advances in NMR
spectroscopy 2. Inorganic
Frameworks
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Session 4, 1. Molecular Machines Prof David Leigh 2. Molecular
Magnets
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Session 6, 1. Materials
Design
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Session 8, Assigning Molecular Vibrations Patrick O’Malley Time for preparation of student presentations t |
Session 10, Group presentations on assigned research topics. |
Presentation Topics on Friday afternoon.
These follow from the research topics covered in seminars presented on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. Presentations should be 20 minutes duration.
Advanced NMR techniques (Nillson)
Inorganic Framework Structures (Anderson)
Molecular Machines (Leigh)
Molecular Magnets (Chilton)
Water Oxidation in Photosynthesis (O’Malley)
Students should look up the researcher web sites prior to the summer school to familiarise themselves with the research to be discussed. Presentations can be completed on Thursday afternoon.
A series of lectures from leading researchers from Chemistry, Biochemistry, Materials Science and Physics at the University of Cambridge to present their research on new elements, new energy, and new materials.
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Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
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Morning (10-12) |
Session 1, 1. Introduction 2. Could chemistry have been different in the early universe? Professor John K. Webb |
Session 3, DNA Targeting Molecules as Therapeutic Agents Professor Michael Waring |
Session 5, Advanced functional materials for sustainable energy applications Dr Xavier Moya |
Session 7, Colour Engineering: form nature to applications Dr. Silvia Vignolini |
Session 9, Visiting London Bioscience Innovation Centre |
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Afternoon (2-4) |
Session 2, Visiting the University & Library Exploring Cambridge |
Session 4, Visiting Sanger Institute/Wellcom genome campus |
Session 6, Studying in Cambridge Dr Sooter Nomhwange (Institute Continuing Education) Claire Claire Canning (Cambridge Admissions Office) Xiaotian Zhang & Zihao Lu (Department of Chemistry) |
Session 8, New materials for next-generation non-volatile memory devices Professor Stephen Elliott |
Session 10, Visting labs at Imperial College of London |
Professor John K. Webb
It is often assumed that the building blocks of Nature, the laws of physics, are the same everywhere in the universe and that they have never changed with time. Large telescopes in Chile and Hawaii can now make spectroscopic measurements that are so accurate, we can investigate the detailed physics and chemistry of matter at very early times. I will introduce the methods and concept behind research that attempts to check such basic assumptions and present the state of our current knowledge, derived from the worlds best observatories.
Professor John Kelvin Webb has a long-standing association with Cambridge University. He did his PhD at Astrophysics at the university and has worked as a scientist at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP), in Stephen Hawking's group. He is a life member of two colleges at Cambridge. He currently holds a professorship at the School of Physics at the University of New South Wales Sydney where he founded the Big Questions Institute, Sydney and Stephen Hawking was on the Advisory Board of the institute.
John has authored over 200 publications on diverse topics, including cosmology, fundamental physics, gravitational waves, extra-solar planets, galactic structure, the intergalactic medium, and Big Bang nucleosynthesis. John is best known for research on varying constants. He has lectured undergraduate courses at all levels and have supervised 20 postgraduate students.
John’s research has received extensive media attention. The Economist and New Scientist covered his research as front-page news and several special editions of Scientific American have published less technical descriptions of his work. Recent TV documentaries include the Discovery Channel and Emmy-nominated “Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman” and the Catalyst special edition
This session will provide an opportunity for students to
inspect a unique collection of molecular models (including the metre-high model
of B-form DNA) and consider the modes of binding of drugs to DNA, including
agents of great historical importance in the treatment of cancer as well as other
diseases, together with a look at some future directions. Students will be
expected to ask questions during the session and have some hands-on experience
in building molecular models
Professor Michael Waring's academic interests include:
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/ebook/978-1-78262-992-4
https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783540228356
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/ebook/978-0-85404-370-5
https://benthamscience.com/journals/current-topics-in-medicinal-chemistry/volume/15/issue/14/
Professor Michael J. Waring, Sc.D, FRSC, CRAeS
Cambridge University Professor of Chemotherapy,
Department of Biochemistry,
Cambridge CB2 1GA, England
Dr Xavier Moya
Department of Materials Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 0FS, UK
Research on phase transitions in advanced functional materials is widespread and continues to grow. Scientific interest aside, they are attractive for a wide range of current and future technologies that include computation, medical instrumentation, and energy conversion and storage.
During this talk, I will present my work on ferromagnetic, ferroelectric and ferroelastic phase transitions that permit large thermal changes to be driven by changes in magnetic field, electric field or stress field. The resulting magnetocaloric, electrocaloric and mechanocaloric effects promise new cooling technologies that are energy efficient and environmentally friendly.
The materials that I will present include multiferroic materials that possess strong magnetoelectric coupling, which are interesting also for applications in sensors, actuators and data storage.
Dr Moya is a Senior Research Fellow at Churchill College
Xavier Moya is a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy. He received a BA in Physics in 2003, and a PhD in Physics in 2008 from the University of Barcelona. He is interested in phase transitions in functional materials whose structural, magnetic, electrical and thermal properties display strong coupling. His research focuses primarily on caloric materials for cooling applications and magnetoelectric materials for data storage.
Dr Moya was awarded the Young Researcher in Experimental Physics Prize 2015 by The Spanish Royal Society of Physics, which is dedicated to "researchers of exceptional scientific talent aged under 35".
http://people.ds.cam.ac.uk/xm212/campl_site/index.shtml
Dr. Silvia Vignolini
Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge Lensfield Road, Cambridge UK
sv319@cam.ac.uk
The most brilliant colours in nature are obtained by structuring transparent materials on the scale of the wavelength of visible light. By controlling/designing the dimensions of such nanostructures, it is possible to achieve extremely intense colourations over the entire visible spectrum without using pigments or colorants. Colour obtained through structure, namely structural colour, is widespread in the animal and plant kingdom [1]. Such natural photonic nanostructures are generally synthesised in ambient conditions using a limited range of biopolymers. Given these limitations, an amazing range of optical structures exist: from very ordered photonic structures [2], to partially disordered [3], to completely random ones [4].
In this seminar, I will introduce some striking example of natural photonic structures [2-4] and review our recent advances to fabricate bio-mimetic photonic structures using the same material as nature. Biomimetic with cellulose-based architectures enables us to fabricate novel photonic structures using low cost materials in ambient conditions [6-7]. Importantly, it also allows us to understand the biological processes at work during the growth of these structures in plants.
[1] Kinoshita, S. et al. (2008). Physics of structural colors. Rep. Prog. Phys. 71(7), 076401.
[2] Vignolini, S. et al. (2012). Pointillist structural color in Pollia fruit. PNAS 109, 15712-15716.
[3] Moyroud, E. et al. (2017). Disorder in convergent floral nanostructures enhances signalling to bees. Nature 550, 469.
[4] Burresi M. et al. (2014) Bright-White Beetle Scales Optimise Multiple Scattering of Light. Sci. Rep. 4, 727
[5] Parker R. et al. (2018) The Self-Assembly of Cellulose Nanocrystals: Hierarchical Design of Visual Appearance. Adv Mat 30, 1704477
[6] Parker R. et al. (2016). Hierarchical Self-Assembly of Cellulose Nanocrystals in a Confined Geometry. ACS Nano, 10 (9), 8443–8449
[7] Liang H-L. et al. (2018). Roll-to-roll fabrication of touch-responsive cellulose photonic laminates, Nat Com 9, 4632
Dr. Silvia Vignolini studied Physics at the
University of Florence, Italy. In 2009, she was awarded a PhD in Solid State
Physics at the European Laboratory for non-Linear Spectroscopy and the Physics
Department at the University of Florence. In 2010, she moved to Cambridge as a
post-doctoral research associate working in the Cavendish Laboratory and the
Plant Science Department. In 2013, she started her independent research
becoming a BBSRC David Philip Fellow and
shortly after she was appointed as Lecturer in the Chemistry Department in
Cambridge. Dr. Vignolini is currently a Reader in Chemistry and Bio-inspired
materials. Her research interest lies at the interface of chemistry,
soft-matter physics, optics, and biology. In particular, her research focuses on the study of how natural
materials (such as cellulose) are assembled into complex architectures within
living organisms and how these architectures define the organism`s optical
appearance. Her approach to fabricate novel optical materials is unique in the
field of bio-mimetic and photonics. Grounded on her multidisciplinary
background, Dr. Vignolini uses optics to understand the assembly of naturally
occurring photonic structures and she applies those concepts to fabricate novel
bio-inspired sustainable materials.
https://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/group/vignolini
Graduates include writer JB Priestley, astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and actor Rachel Weisz. The college's 16th-century library (not normally open to the public) has original Jacobean reading desks and books chained to shelves.
For the 300 years from 1560 to 1860 Jesus College was primarily a training college for Church of England clergy. It was strengthened in 1671 by a major gift from Tobias Rustat. Until the end of the 17th century there were other students, but they rarely stayed long enough to get a degree, a qualification which was essential only for clergymen, schoolmasters, and church lawyers.
The College’s 19th century transformation was largely due to the energy and enterprise of Henry Arthur Morgan. Morgan was Tutor from 1863 to 1885 and then Master until his death in 1912. He recognized the growing demand for university education from the expanding Victorian professional and middle classes. Cambridge University, like Oxford, was slowly responding to this change by widening its curriculum and allowing more teaching posts to be held by men who weren't part of the clergy.
Jesus College had spacious grounds and a strong reputation for sport. It was also growing richer thanks to the land inherited from the priory which was now in demand for railway developments and new construction. Morgan made the most of these assets and by 1871 he had quadrupled the number of students, and doubled the accommodation available for them. By 1881 there were seven times as many students as there had been 20 years earlier.
Jesus College is now a community of more than 1,000 members, including around 500 undergraduates, around 400 graduates and research associates, and over 100 Fellows, supported by more than 100 staff. Nearly all students live in the College or just a few hundred yards away, forming a close knit ‘village’ in the centre of Cambridge.
Dining at Formal Hall is a traditional and very popular part of College life.
formal Hall is a three course dinner served by College staff by candlelight in our beautiful dining hall.
There's a dress code: suit and tie or cocktail dress, and students and Fellows wear their academic gowns. It's part of the classic Cambridge experience and always a memorable occasion.
1. Fitzwilliam Museum – open every day except Mondays. Some wonderful pieces of art, sculpture, pottery etc., They do expect a ‘donation’ as you depart
2. Real AA Milne’s Winnie the Pooh at Trinity’s Wren Library. There’s also Sir Isaac Newton’s walking stick and a lock of his hair.
3. Picnic by the river – go to the Mill Pond (bottom of Mill Lane) and watch punting and the world go by
4. Walk round the market in the Market Square. Sundays’ are particularly good with some one-off stands including Ostrich burgers!
5. Walk into the Eagle Pub on Benet Street and read the message written by the pilots of WWII in the back bar.
6. Walk along the river going east from the Quayside passed Jesus Green, Midsummer Common and even Stourbridge Common
7. Walk along the river through Grantchester Meadows out to the village of Grantchester.
