News in 2020
- Research creates hydrogen-producing living droplets, paving way for alternative future energy sources 3 December 2020 Scientists have built tiny droplet-based microbial factories that produce hydrogen, instead of oxygen, when exposed to daylight in air.
- Biofriendly protocells pump up blood vessels 23 November 2020 An international team of researchers from Bristol and China has prepared biocompatible protocells that generate nitric oxide gas – a known reagent for blood vessel dilation - that when placed inside blood vessels expand the biological tissue.
- Interactive virtual reality emerges as a new tool for drug design against COVID-19 13 November 2020 Scientists from the School of Chemistry have demonstrated a new virtual reality [VR] technique which should help in developing drugs against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and enable researchers to share models to collaborate in new ways. The innovative tool, created by School of Chemistry researchers, and published in the Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, will help scientists around the world identify anti-viral drug leads more rapidly.
- Novel approach in organic chemistry enables boron to be added to molecules with high precision 28 October 2020 A major goal in organic synthesis is to develop efficient reactions to convert feedstock chemicals (otherwise known as raw or natural materials) into valuable reagents that can be used to create pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals.
- 2 ERC starting grants 1 October 2020 Congratulations to Alastair Lennox and Bryan Bzdek who have both won ERC starting grants!
- School of Chemistry named 5th in the Country by Guardian University Guide 23 September 2020 The School of Chemistry has climbed into the top 5 Chemistry Departments in the UK, in the Guardian's annual university guide
- Professor Shallcross honoured by American Chemical Society 10 September 2020 Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry Dudley Shallcross is to receive the 2021 George C. Pimentel Award by the American Chemical Society (ACS).
- Singing is no more risky than talking finds new COVID-19 study 21 August 2020 The performing arts has been badly affected during the coronavirus pandemic with live musical performances cancelled for many months because singing was identified as a potential "higher risk" activity. New collaborative research has shown that singing does not produce very substantially more respiratory particles than when speaking at a similar volume. The findings, published on the pre-print server ChemRxiv, are crucial in providing COVID-19 guidance for live musical performances and the safe distancing of performers and audience.
- Luke Jerram’s Palm Temple installed outside the School of Chemistry 12 August 2020 A spectacular installation by internationally renowned artist Luke Jerram is now on permanent display outside the main entrance of the University of Bristol’s School of Chemistry.
- Green Impact Silver Award 10 July 2020 The School of Chemistry Admin Team has been awarded the Silver Award by the Green Impact scheme.
- Ground-breaking project by scientists could help Government achieve UK’s net zero carbon target 26 June 2020 Chemists, biochemists and physicists at Bristol, Exeter and Sheffield have teamed up in a £7.25M 5-year project that could drive down the cost of energy production and help in the Government’s net zero carbon ambitions.
- Three Bristol chemists awarded by the Royal Society of Chemistry 24 June 2020 Three members of the School of Chemistry have received awards from the Royal Society of Chemistry.
- Air Quality Research for Primary School Children 9 June 2020 A resource which uses the UK’s Air Quality Archive and facilitates research by primary children, their teachers, and their carers, has now gone live.
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Chemical evidence of dairying by hunter-gatherers in highland Lesotho in the first millennium AD
20 May 2020
After analysing organic residues from ancient pots, a team of scientists led by the University of Bristol, including members of the School of Chemistry, has uncovered new evidence of dairying by hunter-gatherers in the landlocked South African country of Lesotho in the mid-late first millennium AD.
- Revolutionary new method for dating pottery sheds new light on prehistoric past 24 April 2020 A team from the School of Chemistry has developed a new method of dating pottery which is allowing archaeologists to date prehistoric finds from across the world with remarkable accuracy.
- School of Chemistry produces WHO hand sanitiser for city's key workers 22 April 2020 A team from the University of Bristol’s School of Chemistry is producing World Health Organisation (WHO) hand sanitiser for key workers throughout the city, as part of its ongoing community efforts throughout the coronavirus outbreak.
- £2.2 million grant to support five years of research in the field of synthetic chemistry 1 April 2020 Jonathan Clayden has been awarded a €2.5M (£2.2M) Advanced Grant from the ERC, one of nine awards in chemistry across the whole of Europe, of which two came to the UK. The project in the field of synthetic chemistry is entitled 'Artificial Translation with Dynamic Foldamers: Relaying Encoded Messages into Chemical Function'
- EPSRC New Investigator Award 2020 for research on protocellular materials 13 March 2020 Dr Pierangelo Gobbo, Vice Chancellor’s Fellow at the School of Chemistry, has won an EPSRC New Investigator Award worth £392,000.
- Florence Gregson, from the University of Bristol's School of Chemistry, wins gold at national STEM awards 12 March 2020 Nine University of Bristol students presented their research in the Houses of Parliament on 9 March 2020 as part of a national competition which celebrates early stage or early career researchers; Florence Gregson, from the school of Chemistry, was awarded the gold medal.
- Carbon chains can adopt fusilli or spaghetti type shapes depending if they have odd or even numbers of atoms 9 March 2020 Helical shapes are very familiar in the natural world and, at the molecular level, of DNA, the very blueprint of life itself.
- Development of new blood test for GPs could help diagnose brain tumours earlier 26 February 2020 The School of Chemistry will be involved in new research, funded by Cancer Research, to produce a simple blood test to help diagnose brain tumours. Thanks to funding of nearly £500,000 from Cancer Research UK, this blood test could be used by GPs in primary care to allow earlier diagnosis. Around 60,000 patients in the UK are living with a brain tumour but only 20 per cent of patients are still alive five years after diagnosis, partly because they present late with large inoperable tumours.
- Scientists discover new non-sticky gels 3 February 2020 Scientists from the School of Chemistry and Université Paris-Saclay have discovered a new class of material – non-sticky gels.
- Accelerated speed of discovery could lead to more effective smoking cessation aids 13 January 2020 As smokers know all too well, nicotine is highly addictive. It’s hard to quit smoking, a habit that claims the lives of more than seven million people each year.
- Catalytic protocells get zingy 10 January 2020 Artificial cells capable of oxygen gas production and chemical signalling have been prepared using a combination of synthetic and biological catalysts through an international collaboration between the University of Bristol and the University of Padua in Italy.