University of Auckland
Student publications and media coverage
Congratulations to PhD student Shailja Data, supervisor Erin Leitao, and co-author David Barker for publishing a paper in ACS ES&T Engineering (https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsestengg.5c00603) on PFAS, which has received a lot of media attention (TVNZ, 1News, Te Ao Maori News, RadioNZ). This is a collaboration within the School of Chemical Sciences, the School of Environment and the Faculty of Engineering.
Chemistry Olympiad Camp 2026
The School of Science hosted the annual Chemistry Olympiad Camp, attended by a group of 32 students selected from an initial national exam last year of some 320 Year 12 high school students, followed by three months of online training for the top 200 students. The six-day camp consisted of nine theory sessions, three evening problem sessions, and three 3-hour practical labs. It wasn't all hard work, though – there was also a quiz night and a titration competition. Yes, that was for fun! A massive thanks to the organisers: Jan Giffney, Duncan McGillvray, Owen Curnow, Andrew Rogers, Stephen McCracken, Sheila Woodgate, Marie-Anne Thelen and Allick Lal.
At the conclusion of the camp, four students were selected (following a 3-hour lab exam and a 3-hour theory exam) to represent New Zealand at the International Chemistry Olympiad, to be held in July this year in Uzbekistan. The international competition will feature two ludicrously difficult 5-hour exams. 90 countries will participate in the Olympiad later this year, and the team to represent New Zealand is: Nathan Appleton (Mt Maunganui), Wesley Lau (Macleans College), Percy Huang and Rahul Gupta (Pinehurst College).
School award
The School of Chemical Sciences was awarded a Gold Equity Award by the Faculty of Science, thanks to the hard work of Dr Rebecca Deed and the Equity Committee.
Seminars
On 18 March, the School of Chemical Sciences hosted Professor Joost Reek from the University of Amsterdam for a talk titled, “Self-assembled molecular cages for transition metal catalysis and applications in living cells” in which he provided insights at the interface between supramolecular chemistry and transition-metal catalysis. This talk was co-sponsored by the NZIC and the MacDiarmid Institute.
On 15 April, Dr Cheng Zhang from the University of Queensland gave a seminar entitled, “Novel strategy for PFAS management”.
Doctoral completions
Congratulations to the following students who have successfully completed their PhD thesis:
Yongjian Chen: “Advanced macrocyclic metal catalysts for green oxidation of organic micropollutants in water treatment”, supervised by Professor James Wright and Professor Christian Hartinger.
John Duodu: “Investigating poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) – and – cellulose-based materials as carrier matrices for environmentally benign controlled drug delivery applications” supervised by Professor Viji Sarojini and Professor Zimei Wu.
Yiyun Wei: “Modifications of small granule starches using green methods” supervised by Associate Professor Fan Zhu and Dr Kang Huang.
Xin Sun: “Transient polymer electronics based on biodegradable conducting polymers” supervised by Professor Jadranka Travas-Sejdic and Professor David Barker.
Marco Vas: “The effects of non-magnetic and magnetic doping on the skyrmion hosting material, Cu2OSeO3” supervised by Professor Tilo Söhnel and Associate Professor Clemens Ulrich.
AUT News
New faces
Emma Davison's research lab has some new faces; Juho Helminen joined the group as an HRC-funded PhD student in February. Juho completed his BSc and MSc in chemical engineering at Aalto University, Finland, and will be working on novel nucleoside analogues for antisense oligonucleotides at AUT. Sabrina Harada and Tobias Swanepoel both received School of Science scholarships for their BSc (Hons) research projects with Emma Davison's research group.
Jack Chen’s group is joined by new PhD student Rashidah Haneef, recruited through the Applied Doctorates Scheme, to conduct research on cellulose-based surfactant technologies for microemulsion flow batteries. Kaya Flower also joins the group as an Honours student.
Events
On 22 April, AUT hosted the national Cleantech Expo in Auckland, a showcase of leading New Zealand companies developing innovative solutions in areas such as the circular economy, sustainable materials, waste-to-value technologies, clean energy, and low-emissions products. The event brought together industry adopters, investors, and procurement professionals to explore commercially ready cleantech innovations with strong growth potential. The Expo also featured AUT-based start-up Dot Ingredients, who are developing sustainable surfactants derived from cellulose.
Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre (ACSRC)
We have some big changes coming to the Cancer Research Space in Auckland.
The Faculty and University have decided to merge Te Aka Cancer Centre, Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre, Oncology and Cancer Trials NZ and other cancer researchers into a new Department of Cancer Sciences. The start date is 1 July 2026 and the transition of ACSRC into that new department will happen after that.
In the next update of Chemistry in NZ we will introduce the inaugural Head of Department of this new unit, Associate Professor Ben Lawrence, and the wider leadership structure.
Publications:
Dr Peter Choi and Dr Jiney Jose from ACSRC have published the following papers:
- Dumo, C. J.; Faheem; Choi, P. J.; Pederson, N. J.; Liu, Y.; Dragunow, M.; Park, T. I-H.; Diehl, K. L.; Jose, J. In vitro evaluation of PARP1 inhibitor olaparib-cyanine dye conjugate for the treatment of Glioblastoma. ChemMedChem 2026, 21, e70286. https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cmdc.70286
- Muhammad, O.; White, S.; Dumo, C. J.; Park, T. I-H.; Choi, P. J.; Jose, J. Harnessing targeted protein degradation for developing brain cancer therapy. Bioconjug. Chem. 2026, ASAP. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.6c00123
