Chancellor’s Fellow and BBSRC Discovery Fellow in the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry at the University of Strathclyde
This breakthrough capability has applications in the areas of biosciences, quantum technologies, and advanced security inks.
I was a postdoctoral research assistant at Durham from 2017 to 2020, working on the development of new chiro-optical spectroscopy techniques in the group of Professor Robert Pal. I’m now a Chancellor’s Fellow and BBSRC Discovery Fellow in the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry at the University of Strathclyde.
Working as part of a close-knit team, I built, developed, and tested innovative chiro-optical spectroscopy technologies. These new technologies could analyse the light from left and right handed molecules, and therefore decode information about the structure of the light emitting molecules understudy.
Importantly, the new technology could do this around one hundred thousand times faster than previous technologies! This breakthrough capability has applications in the areas of biosciences, quantum technologies, and advanced security inks.
Chiro-optical spectroscopies lies at the intersection of chemistry, physics, and biology! I got to work with chemists who precision-engineered intricate and beautiful molecules. I also got to learn about detailed aspects of life science and quantum mechanics. Most of all, I enjoyed working in the optics lab as part of a great team!
The spectroscopy designs we pioneered at Durham have been influential in the field, having already been adopted by other scientists. Outside the laboratory, these technologies could be used for rapid verification of high-security items, like passports and bank notes. Before our work this would have taken ~1 hour per item. Now it can be done in a matter of milliseconds!
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