Dr Sam Staniland MRSC

My chemistry teachers (Mr Beacock and Mr Hill) were inspiring, and I loved the practical element of the lessons. Classes were never dull and often ended with a bang (setting fire to hydrogen balloons, screaming jelly babies, elephant’s toothpaste etc.). I no longer get to do these kinds of experiments in my current role, but they certainly helped make chemistry fun and memorable.

I have had several inspirational supervisors and mentors during my early career. This includes my supervisors and colleagues during my year in industry who taught me so much in a short time and I’ll always be thankful for the motivation and drive they gave me to pursue the career further. I am also very grateful to both my PhD supervisors Professors Jonathan Clayden and Nick Turner. Having the opportunity to work in their groups as a student was an amazing experience.

Knowing that you are working on molecules that matter! I was fortunate enough to get to work on a potential treatment for an illness which my Dad suffered from. Every day I feel very fortunate that I get the opportunity to work on the life-saving medicines of the future.

The applied biocatalysis field is evolving rapidly right now and I look forward to the discovery and development of new enzyme classes capable of carrying out novel chemistry in a more sustainable way. I think it’s great that biocatalysis is also being used now much earlier in the drug discovery process and I think the next step is to train more chemists to use enzymes like any other tool in the synthetic chemist’s toolbox.

I’ve never really had a favourite one, however I think gallium is pretty cool because it melts in your hand and is (hopefully) non-toxic. You can also buy it online and it makes an interesting secret Santa gift!