Medicinal Chemistry student presents research at Society of Chemical Industry showcase

Katherine Whyte, a third year Medicinal Chemistry MChem student, has successfully presented her Year in Industry project at the National Undergraduate Industrial Placement Showcase.

Hosted by the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI), the showcase is open to undergraduate students currently undertaking industrial research placements in organic, biological, supramolecular, physical organic or medicinal chemistry and related fields. Katherine was one of eight students selected to give a presentation on her work.

For her Year in Industry placement, Katherine is working at Concept Life Sciences, a contract research organisation in the Peak District. Reflecting on her experience, Katherine said: “Over the year I’ve been working on one of their in-house innovation projects, looking at applying Electrochemistry as a method for Hit-to-Lead transformation.

Concept Life Sciences Head Office in Chapel-en-le-Frith

“The beginning part of the project was set up to enable me to develop my synthetic skills and settle into the lab. As the project progressed, I was given more freedom to take the lead on the project, which enabled me to develop my time management and prioritisation skills alongside delivering updates to more senior chemists, which enhanced my presentation skills. This has set me up well for my master’s project and later self-directed research.” 

“Last month I presented my project ‘Electrochemical de-aromatisation and derivatisation of fragments - A new ECR-derivatisation workflow’ at the SCI National Undergraduate Industrial Placement Showcase held at the University of Manchester.”

This was a great event, featuring posters and talks from students across the UK as well as the opportunity to talk to my peers about their placement experience.

“I have had a great time this year and I’m looking forward to returning to Leeds this autumn to start my masters.”

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