• Question: What do you study in science

    Asked by anon-258216 on 13 Jul 2020.
    • Photo: Tiffany Chan

      Tiffany Chan answered on 13 Jul 2020:

      Hi! I initially studied Chemistry at university, but I now work in between chemistry, biology and medicine. I’m interested in how chemistry can be used to solve medical problems, and I’ve worked on projects ranging from developing new drugs for brain diseases to improving the way we can use radioactive drugs to treat cancer.

    • Photo: Katherine Haxton

      Katherine Haxton answered on 14 Jul 2020:

      I studied chemistry at university, then I did research into polymers that look a bit like snowflakes that were used to speed up chemical reactions. I then did another research project looking at the snowflake polymers as a new way to give people chemotherapy. Now I research how to help people learn chemistry better.

    • Photo: Aisling Ryan

      Aisling Ryan answered on 14 Jul 2020:

      In university I studied a course called medicinal chemistry, which is where you learn all about how to make medicines using chemistry. The course was four years long and I got to study lots of different types of science throughout the four years. In the first two years I did general science which included chemistry, biology, and maths. Although I didn’t do biology in school I really loved my biology lectures!! Biology is so diverse. I got to do modules all about evolution, how animals behave, the immune system, how cells work, and many many more! For chemistry we built on general concepts I had done in school, and also got introduced to lots of new stuff as well. For the maths it was algebra and calculus, which were also both enjoyable (even though I am not great at maths!)
      Then in third and fourth year it was more focused on all the different aspects of chemistry and how to treat diseases, so more of the medical side. We learnt all about different medicines, how they work in the body, how to make them, and how to design new medicines. Alongside lectures we did labs every week (which are so much fun!). In fourth year we got to do a three month long research project as well, which gave me a good idea that I would enjoy doing research after my degree 🙂
      I hope this answers your question! I can go into more detail about any of the above if you are interested 🙂

    • Photo: David Shaw

      David Shaw answered on 14 Jul 2020:

      During my undergrad degree in Chemistry I did ferrihydrite setting rates for my thesis (Watching rust settle :D), during my post grad in chem engineering I researched non thermal plasma.
      Throughout my career I have worked on lots of projects applying the skills I learnt at uni and applying it to finding solutions to oil field problems.

    • Photo: Heather Walton

      Heather Walton answered on 14 Jul 2020:

      I’ve just finished a degree in Pure and Applied Chemistry, where I studied a lot of different chemistry topics – from natural molecules to specially designed polymers! – in lectures, and did a project developing new compounds containing magnesium which could be used in sustainable large scale production in the future.
      I used to work developing ingredients for sun cream and now I work on medicines, in both jobs I study/examine new products and ways to make them, to find out where we can improve the products for our customers 🙂

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