Profile

I grew up in a small village in Perthshire, Scotland. From there I moved to St. Andrews, Manchester, Nottingham and Cambridge. In 2000, I began what would turn out to be a 15-year overseas adventure. First, I relocated to Uppsala in Sweden and from there to Antwerp in Belgium> During my time in Belgium, I also had a 6-month stay in Tübingen, Germany. From Belgium, I moved to Singapore. After that, I returned to the UK.

As I have always had a commute to my various workplaces, I like to listen to audiobooks. I try to rotate through detective stories (e.g. Ian Rankin, Quintin Jardine, Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan-Doyle) non-fiction (Daniel Kahneman, Matt Parker, Stephen J. Dubner, Hans Rosling) and science fiction (e.g. James S.A. Corey, Peter F. Hamilton, Greg Bear, Andy Weir)

Whenever I can, I like to take photos both with my main camera and smartphone. I am always trying to take better pictures, on purpose.

Cars have been a lifelong passion for me. I have successfully completed the Institute for Advanced Driving test. As well as skid-pan training and a supercar track day, I have driven my own car around the Nürburgring.

I am not very active anymore but I used to swim and cycle a lot. In Sweden, I was a Dragonboat racer for several years and even captain of the team on my last outing.

Every week, I take part in “Jay’s Virtual Pub Quiz” and chase that elusive perfect 50/50!

https://www.youtube.com/c/thevirtualpubquiz

I also volunteer at Reading Central Library as part of the Get Online program.

Welcome to Get Online Reading!

My current role is part of the manufacture of specialised molecules for other companies

This involves talking with customers to help determine what they need from the product and in what form it will be sent to them. I plan and then carry out experiments to make the products. I need to ensure that I can correctly identify what I have made and how pure it is (some cleanup is almost always needed!). Everything is carefully recorded in a lab notebook and checked. Finally, the products are sent to the customers.

Previously, I worked as a Medicinal Chemist attempting to make new drugs. Once again, organic chemistry was central to this job. However, I worked in a team of many different types of scientists:

• Computational chemists- made computer models to help design my new molecules.
• Biologists – designed experiments to test new molecules, both in isolated cells and live animals.
• Pharmacologists- found out how these new molecules affected living material and how, in turn, that affected the molecules.
• Process chemists – streamline the way of making the molecules such that they can be made in Kg amounts rather than mg!
• Patent lawyers – prepare the legal documents which allow products to be sold.

The projects I have worked on were designed to discover new medicines for diseases such as diabetes, cancer, weight problems, bone diseases, and brain diseases (e.g Motor Neuron disease, as suffered by the late Prof. Hawking).

My commute is about 30mins and I usually arrive by 08:30. While my tea is brewing, I “wake up” the lab:

• Turn on lights and machines
• Check on overnight experiments
• Make some fresh solutions.
• Take items out of the fridge or freezer and allow them to warm up before use.

I will usually check my email and look at my plan for the day (meetings, phone calls, etc) before starting my lab work. Some days, there are very carefully timed activities within the experiments.

Throughout the day, I will return to my desk to check emails or contribute to discussions with my colleagues.

Lunchtime is flexible for me and depends on what stage my practical work has reached. When the weather is nice, I sit outside and chat with my colleagues.

The labs usually close at around 17:00 so I need to make sure my tasks are completed and any overnight experiments are running safely.