Skip to content
The Chemistry of a PhD

The Chemistry of a PhD

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

Tag: organic chemistry

Posted on December 10, 2018December 10, 2018

Reflections on second year

This is my last week in the lab of 2018. It’s only really four days because we're having our group’s Christmas party on Friday (laser quest and pub lunch) and then I’m at a conference on Monday before taking the rest of the week off before Christmas. Towards the end of first year I wrote …

Continue reading "Reflections on second year"

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 …

Continue reading "Chemistry PhD: A Day in the Life"

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 …

Continue reading "How do I know I’ve made the right molecule?"

About me

Hi there! Thank you for visiting my blog. My name is Fiona Scott. I am a PhD student at Sussex Drug Discovery Centre, based at University of Sussex on the south coast of the UK. I enjoy sharing my love of science and the highs and lows of PhD life on this blog – and also on Twitter and Instagram.

 

Instagram @thechemistryofaphd

🗓Planning🗓 Happy November! I thought I’d share a little of my routine for planning work for my PhD. I use a rough version of the “bullet journal” system (i.e. various to-do lists) and use this nifty weekly planner from @sainsburys. The blank template allows me to keep track of months of work all in one place. At the start of each month I write out an overview of how busy the month is going to be. Generally this is stuff outside of uni so I can see how many evenings I have free to put in longer lab hours. This way I know when in the month I can expect to be more or less productive in the lab. Then on a weekly basis (swipe!) I write daily to do lists to break down the individual tasks of analysis and making compounds via multiple reactions steps. At the end of each week I type up a summary what I’ve done on one side of A4 (I won’t show this as it usually has chemical structures on it) which should help with the chronology of my project when writing up. I’m planning for this to be my last month in the lab so I have a lot of analysis to run and, thankfully, only a few compounds to remake for better samples for my thesis! Nearly done with lab life! How do you plan your work? Anything exciting happening in November? Let me know in the comments below.
Element number 113 was discovered in 2004 by Japanese scientists from RIKEN (The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research). Its name, aptly so, came from the Japanese name for Japan. Nihonium is a highly radioactive metal and only a few atoms have ever been made so it currently has no commercial applications or known biological role. What’s your favourite element? How are you marking #IYPT2019 ? Let me know in the comments below. #atom #atoms #element #elements #internationalyearoftheperiodictable #pblock #chemistry #periodictable #mendeleev #scienceblog #scienceblogger #scicomm #postitperiodictable #sciencecommunication #featurethechemistry #nihonium #japan #japanese #science #chemistry
⚖️Prepping samples for shipment⚖️ Now that I’ve finished making my last set of new compounds, it’s time to send them to my collaborator in Brazil! They will test the compounds in a biological assay to see how well my compounds fit into the enzyme I’m targeting. This process is known as inhibition and so my compounds are also referred to as “inhibitors” because they interfere with the enzyme’s normal function. I’m always amazed by how little material biologists require for their experiments but then I guess they are working on with cells and enzymes which are pretty tiny! I’ve spent a lot of today weighing out 0.001-0.003 g of 40-50 compounds into these little vials. I’m glad my hay fever isn’t too bad at the moment as I could lose my sample with a single sneeze! Has your week got off to a good start?
Thallium was discovered in 1861 by William Crookes. Its name comes from the Greek word “thallos”, which means “green twig”. Element 81 is a soft, silvery-white metal that tarnishes easily. It is a rather toxic element which means it is used for things like rodent killers, but household use of this poison has been banned in most developed countries. Thallium is able to replace potassium in the body which can affect the central nervous system. The metal is mainly used in photoelectric cells in the electronics industry. It is also used to produce types of glass with special properties like the ability to become fluid at low temperatures. When thallium is mixed with mercury, it creates an alloy with a melting point 20 °C lower than pure mercury which means they can be used in thermometers used to measure low temperatures. What’s your favourite element? How are you marking #IYPT2019 ? Let me know in the comments below. #atom #atoms #element #elements #internationalyearoftheperiodictable #pblock #chemistry #periodictable #mendeleev #scienceblog #scienceblogger #scicomm #postitperiodictable #sciencecommunication #featurethechemistry #thallium #electronics

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Recent Posts

  • PhD Update: 2019 Q3 October 7, 2019
  • Six tips to survive a heatwave working in a chemistry lab July 23, 2019
  • PhD Update: 2019 Q2 July 11, 2019
  • What’s In My Fume Hood? May 2, 2019
  • PhD Update: 2019 Q1 March 31, 2019
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
WordPress.com.
Cancel