Eoghan speaks in Gregynog

Eoghan gave a talk this week at the annual Young Chemists’ Organic Chemistry Workshop in Gregynog, Wales. The presentation concerned some new results in the area of vinylsulfonium salt chemistry. Thanks to Vinny and Johno who generated the results in the lab. The 3-day event was an excellent meeting, with lots of opportunities to hear about the latest results and to meet with young chemists from the UK, Ireland and further afield. There were also invited lectures from Prof Seth Herzon (Yale) and Prof Chris Braddock (Imperial College London).

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Welcome Alan, Cian, Joe and Nathan!

We welcome Joe, Alan, Nathan and Cian to the group. The guys are carrying out their final year research projects as part of their BSc degrees in either Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry & Chemical Biology, or Chemistry with Environmental and Sustainable Chemistry. They will work on a range of topics, making molecules for biological testing, developing new synthetic methodologies and developing novel catalysts. Guys, we hope you enjoy your time in the group and that you learn a lot while you are with us. We look forward to your contributions to the group’s research efforts.

Congrats Graduates!

We congratulate Alex, Saranna and Fiona on their BSc graduation this afternoon! After four years of hard work the three ladies were award their well-deserved degrees. We are especially grateful for their research efforts during their fourth year projects in the group last year. These ladies aren’t finished yet though. Fiona is pursuing an MEngSc in Biopharmaceutical Engineering in UCD. Alex and Saranna have started their PhDs with the McGarrigle and Gilheany groups, respectively. We wish all three the very best in their new ventures.

RSC Carbohydrate Meeting in Dublin

We participated in the RSC Carbohydrate Section’s Autumn meeting over the last two days. The meeting was held in Trinity College Dublin with Prof Eoin Scanlan as the chair, and Eoghan and Trinidad Velasco-Torrijos (NUI Maynooth) as members of the organising committee. We welcomed many visitors to Dublin. Highlights included the plenary lecture by Prof Gert-Jan Boons (Utrecht) on Thursday and Prof. Carmen Galan’s (Bristol) RSC Carbohydrate Prize Lecture on Friday. Another highlight was Nathan Allen’s talk on Friday morning. Great job Nathan! Well done too to Avene and Ren who presented their research in the poster session.

Welcome Gaffney, Alex and Dionyssia!

Dionyssia, Gaffney and Alex started their PhDs in the group today. For Gaffney and Alex it’s a case of ‘Welcome Back!’. Gaffney was a Summer Intern in 2016 while Alex carried our her 4th year research project with the group last year. Dionyssia joins us from Greece where she recently completed her MSc in the University of Patras.  We are really glad to welcome all three to the group and we look forward to working with them over the next four years. Hopefully we’ll have some fun along the way too!

Dionyssia and Gaffney are working on SFI-funded projects in the area of synthetic carbohydrate chemistry. While Alex will be carrying out research in the area of organocatalysis.