Welcome New Members Update - November 2021
New Member Interviews
.png)
Diana Zhang
How did you learn about RACI?
I’ve known RACI for more than a decade now. Although I was at the Conservatorium High School where my Chemistry class only had 4 students, I had friends from different selective schools across Sydney and many of them would mention how their school had participated in the RACI Titration Competition and how fun it was (albeit frustrating getting the end point right)!
Why did you decide to join RACI?
I first joined RACI as a student member when I was studying my Honours year because I wanted to be a part of Australia’s biggest professional organisation for those in Chemistry, and participate in events where I could meet fellow colleagues and academic staff from similar fields of research. One example includes participating in the 2017 R & D Topics Conference organised by the Analytical and Environmental Chemistry Division of RACI in Hobart where I had the opportunity to present my Honours research and was fortunate to win first prize.
What degree program are you studying?
I’m currently completing my PhD in Chemistry as a Fulbright Future and Scientia Scholar under the supervision of A/Prof. Alex Donald at UNSW Sydney. My PhD work aims to develop new methods and chemical instrumentation that can improve the speed and accuracy of disease diagnosis using mass spectrometry. In particular, I’m investigating the integration of mass spectrometry, ion mobility, and machine learning for enhanced medical diagnostics.
What made you get into chemistry?
I was first fascinated by Chemistry during my high school years. I had one of the most enthusiastic substitute teachers who would always treat us with exciting experiments such as the ‘elephant toothpaste’ and ‘Darth Vader’ experiment. Since then, I’ve really enjoyed learning about how Chemistry can be applied to societal use. Currently, I’m passionate about how we can translate lab-based research for commercial use and bring the power of chemistry-based tools into the hands of medical practitioners.
Do you use chemistry in your everyday life? If so, how?
Of course! Our daily lives are always riddled with all kinds of chemistry and sometimes it’s hard not to remember your undergraduate chemistry lectures – like being reminded of micelles when we wash our hands and being triggered about chirality when you see lemons and oranges!
Do you have a favourite reagent or a reaction?
I’d have to say that there is something magical about dry ice and the process of sublimation. Having hosted over 80 science workshops for primary and secondary school students, I get the biggest reactions when I work with dry ice and water, whether it is adding chemical indicators to observe the change in pH to forming dry ice bubbles with a bit of soapy solution.
What do you like to do outside of chemistry?
Apart from being a professional musician (if you guessed piano and violin, you’d be correct!), I’m passionate about increasing female representation and leadership in STEM and growth of research translation and commercialisation. Some of the highlights include serving as Vice-President on UNSW Postgraduate Council where I oversee the needs and concerns of 10,000+ postgraduates and co-founding two start-ups in the MedTech and Arts sector. I also serve on the Advisory Board for one of the most esteemed providers of executive-level communication training in Sydney.
How can the RACI help you in your current role?
RACI is a great way to not only meet like-minded people across the country, but it’s also a great platform to join forces in key movements such as supporting the representation of women in STEM and encouraging greater participation of STEM students from low socioeconomic backgrounds.
Zhiqi Chen
How did you learn about RACI?
RACI is one of the prestigious chemistry associations in the world. My friends, professors, supervisors are all members of RACI. I have learnt about RACI through many events publicised at my institute. RACI promotes a lot of networking activities, and all members are very interested in their chemistry area and contribute their knowledge and idea to others. Hence, I have signed up to be a part of RACI as well.
Why did you decide to join RACI?
It is a great opportunity for me to join the RACI so that I could expand my network with professionals, attend seminars, share information with other members.
What degree program are you studying?
Currently, I am a second year PhD candidate at the Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, the University of Wollongong, working on a project of developing a novel shear thickening electrolytes for soft body amour batteries supervised by Dr. Caiyun Wang and S./Prof. Weihua Li. This project is a collaborative effort with Dr. Jie Ding, Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) of Australia. The first shear thickening electrolytes were invented by Dr. Jie, DSTG and UOW, which could increase the battery safety under mechanical abuses. However, this area still faces many challenges (e.g., high impact resistance, high ionic conductivity, electrode compatibility). Our objective is to utilise multifunctional materials for safe battery developments without impairing electrochemical performance.
What made you get into chemistry?
In studying Chemistry, one faces new challenges or discovery issues every day, but I enjoy challenges in exploring new areas and developing my problem-solving skills. In addition, my supervisor is a good teacher, who always motivates me to do my best in science with her mentoring and guidance. All these have encouraged me to be fully immersed in my chemistry study.
Do you use chemistry in your everyday life? If so, how?
Chemistry is a big part of our daily life including foods, air, our emotions, and cleaning chemicals (e.g., soaps, shampoos, dishwashing liquids), etc. For example, the chemical reaction of two magic ingredients, baking soda and baking powder to cause pastry dough to rise through metamorphosis to form a tasty well-raised bundle of batter when baked. In addition, I am in direct contact with chemistry every day because of my PhD research work, including electrolyte fabrication, electrode fabrication, and related experiments.
Do you have a favourite reagent or a reaction?
I do enjoy the chemistry involved in electroless deposition (ELD) for the purpose of fabricating wearable electrodes. ELD has emerged as a versatile and cost-effective tool, which makes flexible substrate surfaces to form high quality metal structures. Metal cations in an ELD solution are reduced onto the surface of substrates to deposit a thin metal layer via the autocatalytic redox reaction. However, the use of the same method under same conditions will sometimes only yield non-conductive electrodes, showing how critical for an experiment to be properly executed. I will be excited when textile can pass electrons to ignite bubbles.
What do you like to do outside of chemistry?
I love hiking, bushwalking, and travelling to enjoy nature outside of chemistry and laboratory. I travelled to Uluru to learn about the local Anangu culture and visited many attractions in Western Australia, such as Rock Wave, The Pinnacles, Karijini National Park. I have been preparing for the next journey to Queensland during the lockdown period. I am also interested in renewable energy and care about zero emission in the future. In addition, I love to support the community when I am free, such as school fetes, pre roll/polling booth, etc.
How can the RACI help you in your current role?
I hope to expand my connections through participations in many events / activities organised by RACI. I would like to learn from others to widen my knowledge and equally to share my knowledge, information, discovery with all interested parties.
Marina Tokareva
How did you learn about RACI?
I learnt about RACI when one of my supervisors, Dr. Sinead Keaveney, suggested that I give a presentation at the 40th Annual One Day Symposium 2020 organised by the RACI NSW Organic Chemistry Group. At this symposium, RACI compiled an exciting virtual program including a plenary lecture by Professor Richmond Sarpong, a flash poster presentation session, and invited lectures. I really enjoyed participating in the RACI One-Day Symposium, which provided an outstanding forum for postgraduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early career researchers to present their latest work to an international audience. Moreover, I understood that RACI is a community of active, like-minded people loving chemistry in Australia.
Why did you decide to join RACI?
I arrived in Australia from Russia two years ago and would love to establish a network of colleagues and friends associated with chemistry and relative fields and to stay connected with the Australian scientific community. RACI is also a great platform for career development with a range of useful events and seminars.
What degree program are you studying?
I am currently in my final year of PhD in Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences. I am a Cotutelle PhD student. To satisfy the requirements of a Cotutelle program, I am jointly enrolled at two universities and have to spend a certain time at each university to perform my research. Upon successful completion of the program, I will graduate from both universities with a Doctor of Philosophy. Under the Cotutelle model, I am getting high-quality research training through the provision of an exceptional research environment and access to opportunities to work with the best researchers nationally and internationally.
My home university is the Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin. This is one of the biggest research and educational centres in Russia, located in Yekaterinburg which is the fourth-largest city in Russia in the middle of the Eurasian continent (see left figure below). Yekaterinburg is one of the main cultural and industrial centres of Russia. My host university in Australia is Macquarie university.
My PhD project involves the synthesis of new 1,2,3-thiadiazole derivatives and the development of their new metal- and photo-catalysed transformations which could be useful in heterocyclic synthesis.
Middle: A panorama view of the city centre of Yekaterinburg with the Iset River. Right: the main building of the Ural Federal University in winter.
What made you get into chemistry?
At school, I was more interested in mathematics and physics and had no good chemistry knowledge. Chemistry used to be an incomprehensible and mysterious science for me. Then, to improve my grades in the subject, my parents hired a tutor for me. An inspiring and passionate lady helped me not only improve grades, but also develop a strong interest in chemistry. She revealed to me the beauty of this science and its highly practical importance. Now I also see that chemistry has a lot of logic behind it and provides flexibility and freedom to try out any ideas.
Do you use chemistry in your everyday life? If so, how?
I do use chemistry in my everyday life as all people. For instance, every morning, I brush my teeth with a toothbrush and toothpaste, use cream, hair spray, lipstick, and perfume. I wear clothes that include synthetic fabrics made of soft-and-pleasant-to-touch acrylic, durable nylon, wrinkle-resistant polyester, and stretchy lycra. All these are the products of chemical production.
Do you have a favourite reagent or a reaction?
Being an organic chemist, it is difficult to name one particular reagent or reaction, but I would mention such an elegant synthetic tool as olefin metathesis. This is an efficient method that does not only have a high yield, but it produces fewer undesired by-products and hazardous wastes compared to other alternative organic reactions. Moreover, it opened up new industrial pathways for petrochemicals, polymers, pharmaceuticals, natural products, and biologically active compounds.
What do you like to do outside of chemistry?
I enjoy visiting new places and learning its heritage and culture. I arrived in Australia two years ago and continue to discover its beauties. I also love cooking which I believe is very similar to organic synthesis.
How can the RACI help you in your current role?
I will be able to find out more about industrial chemistry in Australia and broaden my international professional network through my RACI membership and participation in events and seminars organised by RACI. For example, I am going to become a part of the RACI Mentoring program 2022.
Mark Richardson
How did you learn about RACI?
A lecturer promoted the mentoring programme in a course I was doing a while ago. I was impressed at the impact it had on past students from my university. When the mentoring programme coordinator spoke about it in more details a few weeks after that, I was convinced it would be worthwhile.
Why did you decide to join RACI?
I joined to get to know other chemists and to help me with my career. I particularly wanted to join in time to become an early career chemists group committee member as I have found RACI helpful as a student and I enjoyed assisting others in a society at university.
What degree program are you studying?
I am currently pursuing a Bachelor of Nanoscience (Honours) at UNSW. My Honours project is incorporating magnetic materials into microgels for use in bioprinting. Using microgels allows 3-dimensional designs to be printed and by incorporating magnetic materials. The idea is to dynamically alter the mechanical stresses applied onto cells during printing to affect stem cell differentiation. So far, I have been to achieve some changes in stem cell morphology using magnetic forces.
What made you get into chemistry?
I have always been fascinated with how things work. I got into chemistry in high school because I liked being able to observe theories in practice during the experiments. I chose my degree program because I thought it would be increasingly relevant in the future while incorporating a range of interesting sciences, especially chemistry.
Do you use chemistry in your everyday life? If so, how?
Apart from cooking and cleaning, I find problem solving skills from my research work useful every day to adapt when things work out as expected.
Do you have a favourite reagent or a reaction?
Lithium phenyl (2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl) phosphinate (LAP), which is a photocrosslinker. Bioprinting 3D designs, such as tumours to model cancer growth, requires a supporting bath of microgels that a nozzle can pass through to ‘print’ cells into the bath before it is stiffened to act as a scaffold for the cells. Using small amounts of LAP to crosslink the microgels is an easy way to achieve this.
What do you like to do outside of chemistry?
I like walking and reading early modern history. I try to maintain what knowledge I have of French and German by watching films and series and occasionally keeping a diary in those languages. Now that lockdowns are ending, hopefully I can find some opportunities for board game nights with friends again.
How can the RACI help you in your current role?
I am finishing my degree this year. I was fascinated by my Honours project in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine and am looking for work in this area outside of academia. I would like to get to know more chemists and find out how to make the best use of my career.
Wei Deng
Why did you decide to join RACI?
My participation with local community is highly related to my cancer research work, but I would like to understand the policy processes and build the networks relevant to my research by engaging the broader community. Therefore, I have decided to join RACI where I can develop the professional capabilities and explore new network and collaboration with academia and industry in the chemistry-related area.
What is your current occupation?
I am an academic staff member at UTS. My research lab mainly focusses on drug/gene delivery systems for cancer therapy. I am also teaching courses related to nanomedicine and biomedical engineering.
What made you get into chemistry?
The core technology established in my lab was developed via chemistry methods, which is a critical component of my research.
Do you use chemistry in your everyday life? If so, how?
Chemistry is involved in my daily research work where my team develop and modify nanocarriers via chemical strategies.
Do you have a favourite chemical reaction?
I would say the chemical method mainly used in my research is covalent coupling. We conjugate targeting molecules (such as antibody and ligand) to the nanocarrier surface using this reaction.
What do you like to do outside of chemistry?
I enjoy bush walking, swimming and watching movies during my holidays
How can the RACI help you in your current role?
Through the support of RACI community, I will continue consolidating my professional experience including leadership performance capabilities, cross-institutional and external collaboration skills and strategic partnership with industry and government organisation.