Charlie Bishop

Pip Cox

Nirajan Kc

Three University of Sussex Chemistry students have been awarded highly competitive Undergraduate Research Bursaries from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).

The bursaries will allow students Charlie Bishop, Pip Cox and Nirajan Kc to work with Chemistry Faculty to complete 6 to 8-week research projects over the summer, providing experience of real research and insight into a career in science.

Professor Wendy Brown, Subject Chair of Chemistry in the School of Life Sciences, said: “For a University Chemistry department to receive one highly competitive RSC Undergraduate Research Bursary is excellent news; to have three students awarded them is truly exceptional and highlights the calibre of our Chemistry students here at Sussex.

“A huge congratulations to Charlie, Pip and Nirajan for this well-deserved achievement. Many thanks to our staff for hosting the research, especially to Cristina, Hazel and John. I’m very much looking forward to hearing the outcomes of the three diverse projects which really represent the diversity of our Chemistry research at Sussex.”

Charlie Bishop is working with Dr Cristina Pubill Ulldemolins to synthesise peptides (protein fragments) derived from the protein leptin in an effort to generate novel therapeutics for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Charlie will chemically modify the leptin peptides under study to allow safe passage through the metabolism and blood brain barrier, whilst potentially enhancing their potency as novel therapeutics. Using a CEM Liberty Blue Automated Microwave Peptide Synthesizer and a Teledyne ACCQPrep purification system, he’ll synthesise and purify modified sequences of the peptides and perform bioassays to determine the effect of such changes. It is hoped this project will ultimately provide steps towards an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease.

Charlie said "I was extremely excited when I heard the news that I had received the RSC Bursary. I had previously completed some research work as a JRA, but due to the Covid-19 situation I was unable to gain any laboratory experience. This summer bursary will allow me to continue the research I completed last summer, and I can't wait to get working with the team in the lab!"

Pip Cox is working with Professor Hazel Cox on a theoretical/computational chemistry project which involves using and writing code to study electron correlation in two electron systems, which will hopefully contribute to the development of cheaper and more accurate quantum chemical methods, vital for tackling complex chemical phenomena.

She is studying the fundamental interactions between electrons by calculating the probability distribution of the electron-electron distance using a fully correlated wavefunction and the best-uncorrelated wavefunction (the Hartree-Fock wavefunction) and taking the difference to determine the Coulomb hole. By fixing the nucleus and an electron at a set position, then moving the other electron along an axis, Pip will determine the dynamics of the Coulomb hole and begin to study patterns in electron correlation as a function of nuclear charge for the first time. 

Pip said: “Being awarded this bursary and to have been given this opportunity to start exploring research as a career this early on, is incredibly gratifying. The support of the RSC, Professor Hazel Cox and the whole Cox research group, will give me so many skills and insights in Chemistry, Coding and what it means to work in this field. It is a brilliant platform to start from and I couldn't be more grateful.”

Nirajan Kc is working with Dr John Turner on the computational assessment of candidates for high energy fuels for his project, which specifically involves determining potential candidates for non-hydrocarbon future fuels computationally based on heterocycles that contain a large number of nitrogen atoms.

This particular class of molecule was selected because it will allow full control of all contributions to the work generated in an internal combustion engine and the potential to use water as the fuel carrier and therefore as the working fluid in the engine. One of the early steps of the project was to calibrate the various calculational approaches using similar but experimentally known molecules, before exploring candidate structures.

Nirajan said: “When I first applied to the RSC Bursary, I didn't realise how competitive it was. After receiving the confirmation, John made me realise how difficult it was to receive this bursary. When I received the news, it felt like my summer holiday will be meaningful and I could now purchase a higher memory laptop that I desperately need to perform memory intensive calculations.

“As a beginner in the field of computational chemistry, I am hoping to gain in-depth knowledge about the role and capability of computational chemistry in the discovery of novel molecules and most importantly the guidance of John in understanding the key concepts of computational chemistry as well as other important software that are needed for this project. I am hoping to extend my knowledge on this to create beautiful, well-presented documents that can be published in scientific journal. By the end of this project, we are hopeful to obtain data that can be published in a journal for peer-review.”

Royal Society of Chemistry Undergraduate Research Bursaries provide a contribution to the student's wages equivalent to 35 hours per week at the UK National Living for up to 8 weeks to cover a defined research placement.

The purpose of the awards is to give experience of real research to undergraduates with research potential and to encourage them to consider a career in scientific research.

For more information about the scheme, visit the RSC website.