Hooked on chemistry

I was about 12 years old and I remember looking at the periodic table and I was really fascinated that you could have all these elements contained within, effectively, one page of paper. From that moment on I really began to enjoy learning about chemistry.

After my A-Levels I actually came to Bath University to do a little placement. It was amazing being able to be inside the labs and it swayed me to come to Bath. The campus itself was so comfortable and I'd had first hand experience of what the lecturers were like. Because they were so friendly it made me definitely want to come here.

Choosing research

I came to university on the MChem including placement, but I jumped off it at the end of my first year because with the lab experience and previous research I'd done, I realised I really wanted to go in to academia as opposed to industry.

For my third year, I loved it. In the second semester I chose a drug discovery research project, synthesising an antibiotic. And it was so awesome! At the very end of synthesising it, we tested it against MRSA, MSSA, e-coli and pseudomonas, and I realised I really liked the biological part of chemistry, because you can incorporate all of the instrumental techniques and all of the analysis into looking at biochemistry.

What next?

For my PhD, I'm effectively using it to gain really valuable skills. Where that takes me after my PhD I'm not entirely sure. I could go down the route of post-doctoral research, alternatively I could work in industry. To be honest, with a PhD and a degree in chemistry, the choices are limitless.