Past Talks
Are Pigeons Smarter than Mathematicians?
Tue06
Oct
18:15
Are Pigeons Smarter than Mathematicians?
Dr Anna Roffey
18:15, Tuesday 6 October 2020
The story of a counterintuitive maths problem solved by a female polymath in the face of overwhelming opposition. With a little help from active learning we will also solve this problem, which stumped some of the best minds in mathematics, but not the humble pigeon…
Link to the talk will be on our Moodle Page - See you then!
Artificial cells on a chip for drug discovery
Tue13
Oct
18:15
Artificial cells on a chip for drug discovery
Dr Katherine Elvira
18:15, Tuesday 13 October 2020
Lecture given by Dr Katherine Elvira
Dr Elvira is the Canada Research Chair in New Materials and Techniques for Health Applications, a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Victoria, Canada. Her group builds artificial cells and tissues from the bottom up using lab-on-a-chip (microfluidic) technologies. They aim to use these in vitro models to better understand how drugs behave in humans.
Link to the talk is available on our Moodle page - See you then!
Discovering the Phase 1 candidate CCT289346/BOS172722 for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer.
Tue20
Oct
18:15
Discovering the Phase 1 candidate CCT289346/BOS172722 for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer.
Dr Swen Hoelder
18:15, Tuesday 20 October 2020
Treating cancer remains a huge scientific challenge despite significant progress in the last decades. Treatment options for many cancer types are very limited and is some cases no effective treatments are available resulting in poor prognosis for these patients. In this seminar, I will briefly summarise why cancer is so difficult to treat. I will then describe a drug discovery project that has been going on at The Institute of Cancer Research. The aim of this project was to discover small molecule inhibitors of the mitotic kinase MPS1 as a new treatment for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). TNBC is significant fraction of all breast cancers. It is characterised by a significantly worse prognosis than other breast cancers types and remains an area of unmet medical need. I will give an over of the MPS1project from its inception to the discovery of our clinical candidate BOS172722 that is currently undergoing phase I clinical trials. A particular emphasis will be on the medicinal chemistry aspects of the project conducted in my research team.
Link to the talk will be on our Moodle Page - See you then!
The Inbetweeners – Methods beyond Born-Type models in Photoelectron Holography
Tue27
Oct
18:15
The Inbetweeners – Methods beyond Born-Type models in Photoelectron Holography
Abbie Bray
18:15, Tuesday 27 October 2020
Similarly, to light holography, ultrafast photoelectron holography makes use of a probe and a reference wave to reconstruct a target using phase differences. This makes use of the fact that different pathways for an electron in a strong laser field may be associated with specific interference patterns. Typically, the reference is a direct pathway and the probe is associated to a laser-induced rescattering process. If traditional orbit-based approaches are employed, such as the strong-field approximation, for linearly polarized fields rescattering will occur near and on the polarization axis. This will make it detrimental for probing targets whose geometry is oriented perpendicular to the field. In the present contribution, we employ a novel approach which goes beyond that and takes into account the residual binding potential and the external laser field on equal footing: The Coulomb Quantum Orbit Strong-Field Approximation (CQSFA).
By studying a variety of atomic species prepared in excited states of different geometries, we show that, due to the presence of the Coulomb potential, rescattering will no longer be confined to this axis, which makes it possible to probe orbitals whose polarization is perpendicular to that of the field. We also identify the main types of orbits responsible for a non-vanishing photoelectron signal within the CQSFA and initial momentum distributions of the instances of tunnelling and re-scattering as well as assess the orbits geometries. We further probe the interplay between the driving field and the binding potential by modifying parameters such as the field intensity and the binding energy.
Link to the talk will be on our Moodle Page - See you then!
Diamonds- More Than Just A Girl’s Best Friend?
Tue17
Nov
18:15
Diamonds- More Than Just A Girl’s Best Friend?
Professor Katherine Holt
18:15, Tuesday 17 November 2020
Lecture by UCL's very own Professor Katherine Holt!
A whirl-wind tour around diamond's many forms: from gemstone to space dust, high-tech coating to drug-delivery, maybe even a catalyst?
You won't want to miss this talk!
Link: https://ucl.zoom.us/j/91892562935?pwd=dTg5L1ZSZmZrVUwya3JncFJvbVl1Zz09
Artificial Intelligence in Video Games: Past, Present and Future
Tue24
Nov
18:15
Artificial Intelligence in Video Games: Past, Present and Future
Dr Tommy Thompson
18:15, Tuesday 24 November 2020
The term "Artificial intelligence" has become increasingly ubiquitous with gains and changes in technology, although it's rare we know how that actually works. One of the most prominent areas that AI is applied but is often misunderstood is video games. In fact, the video games industry has a variety of bespoke AI tools and methodologies designed to support the unique challenges faced in creating vast game worlds and interesting non-player characters. But in more recent years innovations in deep learning and machine are having a significant impact on numerous industries. But how can it prove useful for games? In this talk we're going to look at how AI has traditionally been operated within video games, how machine learning has previously struggled to make gains in the games industry and the new risks and opportunities for AI that are emerging as games are made and played all over the world.
Link to the talk will be on our Moodle Page - See you then!
Incarceration changes behaviour, for molecules too
Wed25
Nov
13:00
Incarceration changes behaviour, for molecules too
Professor Jonathan Nitschke
13:00, Wednesday 25 November 2020
Lunchtime talk by Professor Jonathan Nitschke (13:00 UK time)
Large, hollow molecules can swallow smaller ones. The swallowed (encapsulated) molecule may be prevented from reacting in a way that it otherwise might, or it may be transformed by its experience on the inside. The encapsulating molecule may also transport its passenger far from 'home', allowing chemical separations and purifications to happen in new ways. Research in the Nitschke group has enabled many new molecular containers to be prepared through the self-assembly of small building blocks around metal ions to give larger polyhedral structures with inner cavities. We'll talk about some of these, and some of the uses to which we've put them recently.
Lapis Lazuli – Medieval Materials Processing
Tue01
Dec
18:15
Lapis Lazuli – Medieval Materials Processing
Dr Spike Bucklow
18:15, Tuesday 1 December 2020
The talk will consider a process of mineral separation that was documented across Europe for over 1,000 years that reliably created a blue colour for artists and a widely used drug. It will post-rationalize the identity of recipe ingredients and procedural details in terms of the available – mainly Aristotelian – theories about the physical world. It will briefly consider the material’s importance to industrial chemistry in the nineteenth century and the recipe’s afterlife in modern chemical engineering. It will be offered as a case study that questions relationships between theories and practices and between C.P. Snow’s ‘two cultures’.
Link to the talk will be on our Moodle Page - See you then!
Illuminating Materials: The Materials Science of Light Emitting Diodes
Tue08
Dec
18:15
Illuminating Materials: The Materials Science of Light Emitting Diodes
Professor Rachel Oliver
18:15, Tuesday 8 December 2020
About a quarter of the electricity generated worldwide is used for lighting. Energy efficient light bulbs based on light emitting diodes (LEDs) are about five times more efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs, and hence have the potential to allow enormous energy savings. The key material used in LEDs which emit white light is gallium nitride, a human-made compound, which has never been observed to occur in nature. Optimising this new material to make LEDs which are efficient, long-lived and reasonably affordable has been a huge challenge, and despite the undoubted commercial success of these devices many aspects of their operation remain mysterious. This lecture will explain how we can take LEDs apart, literally atom by atom, to understand their structure and how this controls their properties. The relevant techniques emerged from traditional metallurgy, but are now being used to understand materials for cutting edge optoelectronic devices, illustrating how the basic principles of materials science are vital to the development of the technologies of tomorrow.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/illuminating-materials-the-materials-science-of-leds-tickets-131624256695
Sponges for mitigating environmental and health impacts of polluted water
Wed09
Dec
13:00
Sponges for mitigating environmental and health impacts of polluted water
Dr Pavani Cherukupally
13:00, Wednesday 9 December 2020
According to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals 2030, there is a need for affordable, sustainable technologies to combat global water, environmental, and public health challenges. For example, the international oil industry produces over 100 billion liters of oil contaminated wastewater annually. The residual crude oil in these effluents is hazardous to the environment and valuable crude oil loss. On the other hand, antibiotic-resistant bacteria are estimated to cause 10 million deaths and $100 trillion in medical costs per year by 2050. In this talk, I will discuss a new sponge-based adsorption technology used to reclaim oily wastewater, reuse sponges, and recover residual crude oil from wastewater to improve circular economy metrics in the oil industry. Also, I will discuss sponges’ design for removing and killing bacteria in the water to provide safe water in medium- and low-income countries like Rwanda. Due to the excellent performance and cost-efficacy, the sponges could contribute to reforming water policies and accessible to people across the world.
Check out the eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sponges-for-mitigating-environmental-and-health-impacts-of-polluted-water-tickets-131623055101
Upcoming Events
Equality, diversity and inclusion in science and health research
Tue26
Jan
18:15
Equality, diversity and inclusion in science and health research
Dr Lilian Hunt
18:15, Tuesday 26 January 2021
Dr Lilian Hunt is the programme lead for EDIS, a coalition of 18 organisations in the life and health sciences committed to improving equality, diversity and inclusion across the sector, hosted by Wellcome. Her talk will cover how the coalition and its members have worked together to identify sector-wide issues and taken action as a collective to develop solutions. She will touch on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on both researchers and health inequalities as an example of the systems thinking approach needed to improve EDI, as well as what the next steps for positive change could look like. Lilian received her PhD in genetics from UCL whilst at the Francis Crick institute in 2018 and has been working on EDIS with Wellcome since 2017.
Link for UCL students and staff is on the moodle page.
For non UCL staff/students, please sign up to the event for free here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/equality-diversity-and-inclusion-in-science-and-health-research-tickets-132425864325?aff
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Visualizing Molecular Structure and Function in Soft Matter Using Vibration
Wed27
Jan
13:00
Visualizing Molecular Structure and Function in Soft Matter Using Vibration
Prof. Sapun Parekh
13:00, Wednesday 27 January 2021
Lecture given by Prof. Sapun Parekh.
Structure-function relationships often define how molecular processes give rise to macroscopic observables. In this talk, I will present an overview of our recent work using nonlinear vibrational spectroscopic imaging to reveal unique structure-function relationships in polymeric soft matter systems. We have used this imaging technology to map protein structure in fibrin biopolymer networks (that lie at the heart of blood coagulation) and demonstrated that fibrin biopolymers change structure in a spatially heterogeneous manner when exposed to tensile, but not shear, loads. This result hints at a unique self-regulating mechanism via a direct biophysical feedback loop in a physiological context. In another project measuring real-time water transport, we have shown that under-coordinated microscopic water transport and macroscopic proton transport are related in nano-structured polymer fuel cell membranes. From these data, we have proposed a strategy to boost efficiency in fuel cell membrane materials. The ability to measure molecular properties of soft materials in heterogeneous environments and correlate those properties with functional behaviors in situ offers new insights for rational design of next-generation materials.
For UCL students and staff find the link on Moodle
Non-UCL staff/students, sign up for free via this Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/visualizing-molecular-structure-and-function-in-soft-matter-using-vibration-tickets-138161311201
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Science communication during a pandemic: are we part of the problem?
Tue02
Feb
18:15
Science communication during a pandemic: are we part of the problem?
Dr Rohin Francis
18:15, Tuesday 2 February 2021
he last 12 months have placed science front and centre in the public eye like never before. Politicians and the media have come in for deserved criticism regarding how they have misrepresented scientific research, but what about scientists themselves? A huge amount of junk science has been published and worse still, clear science communication has been rare. In an era when anyone can communicate with the public via social media platforms, there has been a cacophony of messaging, both good and bad. "Dr" Rohin Francis is one such self-appointed science communicator, trust what he says at your peril!
Link for UCL students and staff is on the moodle page.
For non UCL staff/students, please sign up to the event for free here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/science-communication-during-a-pandemic-are-we-part-of-the-problem-tickets-132426267531
Check out the event on Facebook
Adhesives at the Beach: Characterisation, Synthetic Mimics and Applications of Marine Biological Materials
Thu04
Feb
18:15
Adhesives at the Beach: Characterisation, Synthetic Mimics and Applications of Marine Biological Materials
Professor Jonathan Wilker
18:15, Thursday 4 February 2021
Imagine trying to live at the beach, constantly being pounded by waves. Nature has developed intriguing classes of adhesives for allowing mussels, barnacles, and oysters to stay in place. By contrast, consider all of the adhesives that you can buy at the hardware store. None function well in water. How do these animals stick in such an environment? What can we do with this technology once we understand it? Our group is working to uncover these secrets of how shellfish. We are then using insights for the development of biomimetic materials. In doing so we have created new materials that can bond more strongly than Super Glue. These synthetic polymers also appear to be one of the strongest underwater adhesives seen to date. Surgical connection of tissues may be less traumatic when we can transition from sutures and screws to biocompatible adhesives. Replacing carcinogens in plywood and fiberboard adhesives will have significant health impacts. Other applications of focus include creating debonding adhesives for electronics to enable recycling, making replacements for the toxic glues used in cosmetics, and developing underwater adhesives to aid coral reef restoration efforts.
Link for UCL students and staff is on the moodle page.
For non UCL staff/students, please sign up to the event for free here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/adhesives-at-the-beach-characterization-synthetic-mimics-applications-tickets-135576552117?aff=
Check out the event on Facebook
Writing science into people’s brains
Tue09
Feb
18:15
Writing science into people’s brains
Andy Extance
18:15, Tuesday 9 February 2021
How would you react if I told you science was useless in guiding people’s everyday lives? Your response could be just one of many important points about getting your message across I hope to cover in this talk.
Journalists and editors – including science writers – learn to exploit tricks that seek to manipulate what we pay attention to. As chair of the Association of British Science Writers and a regular contributor to Chemistry World, I’ve become familiar with many of them.
Those tricks have some things in common with what medicinal chemists are aiming for when they try to develop drugs targeting the central nervous system. Communicating is all about psychology. Psychology is all about what’s going on in your neurons – which ultimately all comes down to chemistry.
These underlying phenomena are vital for helping people to use science. To bring a finding to the public, the public must want to know about it. Part of that is about the value of the research itself, but much also relies on the principles of how we think.
Link for UCL students and staff is on the moodle page.
For non UCL staff/students, please sign up to the event for free here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/writing-science-into-peoples-brains-tickets-132424195333
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Past Talks
The Creation of Molecular Nanostructures with Unusual Electronic
Tue12
Jan
18:15
The Creation of Molecular Nanostructures with Unusual Electronic
Professor Harry Anderson
18:15, Tuesday 12 January 2021
The dream of building integrated circuits from single-molecule electronic components has been discussed since the 1970s, as the ultimate in miniaturisation. It is still a remote prospect, but there have been dramatic advances in our ability to synthesise molecular wires and test their charge-transport behaviour. This lecture will present some of my group’s recent research on the design, synthesis and characterisation of molecular wires. This includes both linear wires, which mediate charge-transport over several nm with high conductance, and molecular wire nanorings, which exhibit aromatic or antiaromatic ring currents. Aromaticity was once thought to be limited to small molecules, but we have shown that it extends to rings with circuits of at least 162 π-electrons, as demonstrated by studies of a 12-porphyrin nanoring. One day, it may be possible to use structures of this type as single-molecule electronic devices.
The Future of Particle Physics
Tue19
Jan
18:15
The Future of Particle Physics
Dr Harry Cliff
18:15, Tuesday 19 January 2021
Dr Harry Cliff will explore whether particle physics is in crisis following the drought of new discoveries at the Large Hadron Collider and whether we need a new generation of giant colliders to continue to explore nature at the smallest scales.
Link for UCL students and staff is on the moodle page.
For non UCL staff/students, please sign up to the event for free here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-future-of-particle-physics-dr-harry-cliff-tickets-134153740449?aff
Two Sides of the Same Fish: Developing Tools for Scientific and Social Questions
Wed20
Jan
13:00
Two Sides of the Same Fish: Developing Tools for Scientific and Social Questions
Madina Wane
13:00, Wednesday 20 January 2021
Madina Wane is a PhD candidate at Imperial College London who has recently submitted her thesis in immunology. In this talk, she will discuss the importance of developing new systems to explore scientific concepts in different ways using the example of her PhD research. Her research has focused on assessing zebrafish as a novel animal model to study respiratory immunology.
As scientists, our goals revolve around explaining unanswered questions. This requires us to challenge assumptions and explore ideas in a diversity of ways. However, with financial, social and time pressures placed on scientists, it is often easier to go along with conventional practices.
In addition, the talk will cover Madina’s work as a co-founder of Black in Immuno, an organisation tackling racial inequity in immunology. This will highlight how scientists can use the same critical thinking skills to address scientific and social issues and make positive contributions to society and our communities.
Link for UCL students and staff is on the moodle page.
For non-UCL staff/students, please sign up to the event for free here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/two-sides-of-the-same-fishdeveloping-tools-for-scientificsocial-questions-tickets-136420269699
Our weekly talks are held on Tuesday evenings during UCL teaching terms (Autumn & Spring) and are relaxed & informal and open to all who are curious about the world around! Our talks are social events so arrive early for tea and doughnuts and stay a bit later for some wine, cheese and a chat.
17:45 Tea, coffee, biscuits in the Nyholm Room
18:15 Lecture in the Ramsay Lecture Theatre
19:15 Wine, juice, nibbles in the Nyholm Room
UCL Chemistry, 20 Gordon Street
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