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Cake Sale Success: NU Researchers Raise Funds for CRUK

Written by Rob Dawber: Here at Newcastle University, we believe in the power of community and collaboration, not just in our research labs but also in our efforts to make a difference in the wider world. With this spirit in mind, a group of enthusiastic researchers working within the university’s Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology Groups recently organized a cake sale to raise funds for Cancer Research UK – an organisation that funds much of our own research! We are thrilled to announce that our efforts were a smashing success, raising over £500 in a matter of hours!  A Sweet Initiative for a Serious Cause  In the UK alone there… Read More »Cake Sale Success: NU Researchers Raise Funds for CRUK

Oli Returns from Maternity Leave

In November 2023, Oli Curry – a PhD student – returned from maternity leave. Oli will be continuing her research into chemical probes for Targeted Protein Stabilisation (TPS), and the team are excited to have Oli return as a new mum.     Oli:  “It’s unbelievable I spent a big chunk of this year changing nappies and breastfeeding – maternity leave was a special time in my life, but it’s time to do some cool science again!” 

Maia’s Summer Studentship

Written by Maia:  I carried out my MChem research and a summer studentship in the Kawamura Research Group which was the best experience it could’ve been. I am so grateful for the opportunity as it not only allowed me to develop a variety of lab skills but also provided valuable insights into the dynamics of a research career. The whole team were so friendly and insightful in both their own and my research which was not only incredibly inspiring but made for such a supportive working environment. I thoroughly enjoyed working alongside everyone!   My research centred around the utilisation of cyclic peptides as fluorescent chemical probes to be used in… Read More »Maia’s Summer Studentship

Joanna & Harriet Return from Maternity Leave

In June 2023, Joanna Bonnici and Harriet Stanway-Gordon – two of our Post Doctoral Research Associates – returned to work after maternity leave. The team is excited to have them back, and looking forward to plenty of baby photos and supporting them in balancing work and home life as parents.   Joanna:   “I’m excited to return to work to face new challenges that don’t involve changing nappies or deciphering the meaning behind my baby’s cries.”  Harriet:   “Can’t believe I’m heading back to work already – feels like only yesterday Ziggy arrived! Looking forward to getting back to some semblance of normality (although I am going to miss spending most of… Read More »Joanna & Harriet Return from Maternity Leave

MoSMed Conference 2023

On 16th and 17th May, it was once again time for the Molecular Sciences for Medicine (MoSMed) CDT annual conference. The Newcastle and Durham University students descended on St James’ Park for these two days; each year, this is a great opportunity to catch up with the rest of the cohort from both universities as well as learn about the innovative science going on in the programme. Our second year PhD students Emma and Tom presented posters showcasing their research, whilst third year PhD student Siddique gave a presentation followed by a Q&A session. The conference was also an opportunity for our early career researchers to network with industry partners,… Read More »MoSMed Conference 2023

Class of 23 MChems Finish

After months of hard work Maddy Sayers and Maia Evans have successfully completed their MChem thesis and viva in the Kawamura Group. Their work has involved investigating different roles and uses for cyclic peptides as chemical probes working with PhD students Siddique and Emma. Congratulations and well done on all your hard work, it has been a joy to work with you! We are looking forward to seeing where you go next.

Grace successfully defends her DPhil thesis!

On Monday 13 February Grace defended her DPhil thesis. She wrote a blog all about the challenges and celebrations of her PhD journey. I began my PhD in Oxford as an Oxford-GSK-Crick Chemical Biology CDT student, with 9 months training in chemical biology through taught courses and two 12-week lab placements. The lab placements were particularly helpful for broadening my skill set, allowing me to try two completely different projects. For one project I spent time at GSK working on photoreactive cyclic peptide probes, and for the other I was studying the effect of tissue stiffness on (myo)fibroblast biology using immortal and primary cell lines. I chose to work in… Read More »Grace successfully defends her DPhil thesis!

Tom Visits Novo Nordisk in Denmark

Written by: Tom Smith. From October to December 2022, I had the privilege of visiting the R&D site of Novo Nordisk in Denmark as part of the Kawamura Group’s ongoing collaboration with this pharmaceutical company. It was incredible to experience the cutting-edge science going on there; the company specialises in treating diabetes as well as a variety of other chronic illnesses, and the wealth of expertise they have onsite in peptide chemistry and many other areas was fantastic to be part of. During my placement I was able to undertake various projects including massively parallel peptide synthesis, high throughput screening assays, and DNA library sequencing analysis. As well as improving… Read More »Tom Visits Novo Nordisk in Denmark

Welcome to the group Chris!

A very warm welcome to Chris Mullins, who joins the group as a PhD student as part of the Molecular Sciences for Medicine (MoSMed) CDT. Chris comes to us from Evox Therapeutics, Oxford where he specialised in the downstream purification of exosomes for rare disease indications. He graduated from The University of Warwick with an MBio in Biochemistry with Industrial Placement, during which he spent 12-months at UCB in Slough developing novel engineered antibody formats. Welcome to the group Chris!