NZIC Wellington Branch

President’s talk

On 14 July Dr Michael Edmonds came to Wellington to give the NZIC president’s talk. He gave a facinating presentation on his research into PhD graduates and where students end up following their PhD. This information sparked discussion about how to inspire the next generation to study chemistry, and how to boost NZIC membership.

‍Ferrier Institute

PhD completions

Ferrier recently celebrated two PhD completions. Congratulations to Dan Phipps (supervisors Simon Hinkley & Joanne Harvey) and Patrick Cunningham (supervisors Lawrence Harris & Joshua Buckler), who both successfully defended their theses in August.

HRC funding announcements

Congratulations to Lawrence Harris for securing two HRC Explorer grants: “Exploring mechanism of action of novel nucleosides to develop better antivirals” in collaboration with Natalie Netzler of the University of Auckland, and “Novel AI framework for the discovery of narrow-spectrum antibiotics” in collaboration with Binh Nguyen, also of Victoria University of Wellington, and Alan Cameron of the University of Auckland.

Congratulations also to Gavin Painter, who is part of a successful team that were awarded an HRC project grant for “Preclinical development of new antibiotics to combat drug-resistant pathogens”. The team is a collaboration across Victoria University of Wellington (Jeremy Owen, David Ackerley, Helen Woolner, Hannah Lee-Harwood and Sarah Andreassend) and the University of Auckland (Margaret Brimble).