Global Women’s breakfast

On Friday 27 February we hosted the IUPAC Global Women’s breakfast 2024. This year we had a fantastic turnout of over 20 members, with breakfasts hosted at both the Victoria University Kelburn campus as well as at the Gracefield Innovation Quarter, Lower Hutt. The two locations were linked virtually. Committee members baked a selection of delicious treats and drinks were also provided. Together we listened to the presentation on catalysing diversity and Joanne Harvey gave an excellent presentation on successful woman in chemistry. These presentations were followed by fantastic discussion on how we encourage diversity in chemistry and of some of the challenges that limit diversity.

‍NZIC VUW student prizes for 2023 

Each year the Wellington NZIC branch gives an award to the top chemistry undergraduate students in each year studying towards a chemistry degree at Victoria University of Wellington. The recipients of last year’s awards were:

• First year Prize 2023 - James O’Keeffe
• Second Year Prize 2023 – Joseph Edwards
• Third year Prize 2023 – Alexandra Briscoe

Congratulations to our recipients for all your hard work.

Halton Lecture 

On 21 May Professor Tomas Meek delivered a witty and engaging presentation in honour of the late Emeritus Professor Brian Halton. Thomas Meek currently works in the Faculty of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University. In this lecture he presented work on inhibitors for isocitrate lyase in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, including target molecules containing strained rings. He also presented work on inhibitors for the cysteine protease cruzain from Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, and the cysteine proteases cathepsin L and 3CL protease, which are essential for infection by SARS-CoV-2.

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NZIC BBQ

On Wednesday 6 March we hosted our annual chemistry students’ NZIC welcome BBQ. This event was held in the courtyard outside the chemistry department. This was a great opportunity for chemists from many walks of life (staff, undergraduate and postgraduate students) to mix and mingle.

Outreach 

On 16 May Lara Browne had the pleasure of attending the Te Urewera Livelihoods Expo in Tāneatua, Bay of Plenty, on behalf of the MacDiarmid Institute. Together with Dr Charlie Ruffman and Tane Butler, we demonstrated how to make berry-dyed solar cells and how hydrogen can be used to power a toy car. Our purpose was to inspire rangatahi and their whānau to be interested in science and the future of clean tech. 

‍News from the Ferrier Research Institute

Congratulations to Professor Gavin Painter who has been appointed as the formulation pillar lead for the RNA Development Platform.

Congratulations to the science team of Bontia Bio (Prof Emily Parker, Dr Matt Nicholson, Dr Kelly Styles, Dr Taylor Hibbard) who have been accepted into the Sprout Agritech Autumn accelerator and are attracting a lot of interest and great feedback. Bontia Bio is a start-up utilising patented technology and processes from the Ferrier Synthetic and Chemical Biology Lab that aims to produce biopesticides from fungal-derived compounds. They are currently looking for seed investment to open their own lab to perform additional experimental work and begin product registration.

Australasian Glycoscience Symposium

The 5th Australasian Glycoscience Symposium will be held on 27-30 August 2024 in Wellington. Abstract submissions have closed but registration remains open, with early bird registration closing 5 July. Visit https://www.ags2024.org.nz/ for more information.

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