The Winter 2017 Chem@Cam magazine features scientists associated with the Department of Chemistry whose work has been recognised at the highest level by the award of the Nobel Prize.
The first is Sir John Sulston, to whom we were delighted to award the department's Alumni Medal in October. John played a key role in sequencing the very first animal genome and went on to become the founding director of the Sanger Institute, from where he led UK research in the Human Genome Project – without which the exponential advances we have seen in genetic science would not be possible. He talks about his work in this issue.
Chem@Cam also celebrates the award of the Nobel Prize to our former colleagues Lord Todd 60 years ago, and Professor Ronald Norrish and Lord (George) Porter 50 years ago. Their work opened up new fields of research and paved the way for scientific breakthroughs that were previously unthinkable. Many of our readers have memories of these departmental legends and we are already enjoying some correspondence from alumni who are writing in to share their experiences of working with them. (See 'Memories of Lord Todd'.)
The research pages of Chem@Cam highlights some of our current initiatives, from Dr Silvia Vignolini's investigations into the fascinating mechanisms by which plants attract pollinators like bees, to a recently-funded collaborative effort involving our Bender, Colwell and Goodman research groups to improve safety in medicines.
And we are also featuring some of our alumni, talking about where life is taking them after the Chemistry Department. 'Abroad' seems to be the answer: two young women scientists tell us about the leadership programme they enrolled in that culminates in a trip to the Antarctic. A former undergraduate, now Technology Vice-President at BP Group Research, explains how his career has taken him to live in Russia and China. And we also have some alumni postcards from the World Solar Challenge across Australia and a space satellite conference in Japan.
We hope you enjoy reading them.
- Some of these stories also appear in the Alumni section of this website.