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The Chemistry of a PhD

Ramblings of a Drug Discovery PhD student who should really be in the lab or writing her thesis.

Category: Chemistry

Posted on June 15, 2020June 13, 2020

Cross Stitching a Chemistry A-Z

I’ve been dabbling in various creative projects during UK lockdown to pass the time. This little project was inspired by embroidery Science A-Zs created by Lauren/@stitching_hew and Breann Abernathy/@biochemist.b on Instagram. Fiona holding up her finished A-Z cross stitch on an A5 panel of material Every morning (roughly!) in May, I asked my Instagram followers …

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Posted on July 23, 2019July 23, 2019

Six tips to survive a heatwave working in a chemistry lab

With a heatwave well under way in the south of the UK (which includes Brighton where I’m studying), folks are preparing for some serious heat! As a Scot, I do struggle with the southern climate compared to my baltic homeland. Towards the end of today we clocked on our thermometers it was 29 °C inside …

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Posted on March 31, 2019March 25, 2019

PhD Update: 2019 Q1

This is the last year I’ll be spending in the lab before writing up my PhD next year. I thought it would be useful for me to blog where I am now and what I still need to do in terms of my research about once a quarter. Now that we’re at the end of …

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Posted on March 29, 2019March 25, 2019

What’s on my lab bench?

Most people have a desk as a place of work. I’m lucky enough to have three workspaces as a chemist: my desk, my lab bench, and my fume hood, all for different aspects of chemistry research. Today I’m going to give you a tour around my lab bench! My lab bench is used to carry …

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Posted on February 22, 2019February 22, 2019

#postitperiodictable Group 2

The second column elements of the periodic table are known as the alkali earth metals. They are like group 1 in that they are relatively soft metals that react with water to produce hydrogen gas however they don’t react as vigorously. This is due to the group 2 elements having 2 outer electrons instead of …

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Posted on January 14, 2019

What do the numbers on the periodic table mean?

2019 marks the UN’s International Year of the Periodic Table or #IYPT. It’s 150 years since Dmitri Mendeleev presented his organisation of chemical elements to the world. The periodic table is used daily by chemists and other scientists as reference resource for the ingredients of the universe. Ancient Greeks defined “elements” as one of the …

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Posted on January 2, 2019January 4, 2019

Science Conferences I went to in 2018

Over the course of a PhD, students are encouraged to leave the lab from time to time to go to conferences to learn about other kinds of research going on in their field. Science conferences gather researchers from academia and industry. In this post I will talk about the different conferences I went to in …

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Posted on December 24, 2018December 24, 2018

This Molecule Spells “Happy Christmas”!

It’s Christmas Eve! I hope you’re all getting to enjoy the festivities in some way, whether you’re taking a break from research/work with family and friends or taking advantage of it being quiet to get work done - or a special shout out if you’re one of the superheroes that keep the emergency services running …

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Posted on November 26, 2018November 26, 2018

Chemistry PhD: A Day in the Life

I find people’s routines really interesting. Everybody’s different. Some people are early birds while others are night owls. Some people work long hours and others manage to fit a lot of work into a short period of time. In this post I chat about what a typical day looks like for me and the various …

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Posted on November 19, 2018November 19, 2018

How do I know I’ve made the right molecule?

I spend my days in a chemistry lab making drug-like molecules. A lot of these end up being small quantities (less than 0.1 g!) and usually have the appearance of a white/off-white powder. Occasionally I get a colour which is very exciting. The question a non-chemist might ask is “how do you know you’ve made …

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About me

Hi there! Thank you for visiting my blog. My name is Fiona Scott.

In 2020, during Covid-19 lockdown, I finished a PhD degree I had carried out at University of Sussex, UK. My project involved making drug-like molecules for targeting a process we don’t fully understand yet.

I enjoyed sharing the highs and lows of PhD life on this blog and my instagram account. You can now follow my writing adventures at fionascottwrites.com.

 

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Recent Posts

  • How I secured an ideal post-PhD job during lockdown September 4, 2020
  • Software and Apps that helped me during my PhD June 29, 2020
  • What was I asked during my medicinal chemistry viva? June 22, 2020
  • Cross Stitching a Chemistry A-Z June 15, 2020
  • Finishing my PhD in lockdown June 12, 2020
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