Ramblings of a Drug Discovery PhD student who should really be in the lab or writing her thesis.
One of the most useful ways I prepared for my viva was by asking people who worked on similar PhD projects about their vivas and what they were asked. Below is a detailed but non-exhaustive list of questions and concepts I vaguely remember talking about during my viva. I hope it is useful as a …
Continue reading "What was I asked during my medicinal chemistry viva?"
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 …
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 …
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 …
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?"
The Chemistry of a PhD 