DAY 326/327

Jul 24 & 25

1) All good things must come to an end, so the saying goes. And just like that, my summer research is drawing to a close. It has been an absolute privilege working at the Apjohn Chemistry Research Laboratory, under my Principal Investigator, Dr. Darren Griffith.

2) Less than two months ago, I started work here as a summer research student, under the RCSI Research Summer School programme. My project was entitled, "Novel Bismuth Compounds as Potential Antimicrobial Drugs". We wanted to combine the antimicrobial properties of bismuth with the Fe-binding properties of iron chelators.

3) And here to help me throughout that journey was Mr. Donal Keogan, a final year PhD student. Under their superb tutelage and guidance, my love for chemistry and research as a whole grew. I've a newfound appreciation for the researchers working long shifts in the labs; uncertain if their reactions would turn out successful or not.

4) Most of the time, my day would begin at around 9.00am, where I'd set up an experiment. Sometimes analysis of a product was required, so we'd head over to York House to do mass spectrometry or NMR spectroscopy. Other analytical methods such as X-ray crystallography and elemental analysis had to be sent off to various labs for testing, as we didn't have the required facilities.

5) I'll cherish the growth and progress that I've made throughout my eight week tenure here. I vividly remember being unable to recall any of the reactions that I had done, to learning how to write them on my gloves, and finally being able to draw the structures of the compounds themselves from memory. Thin layer chromatography (RF values), separation using separating funnel (Partition coefficients), vacuum filtration, reflux, mass spec (molecular ion peak) and NMR spectroscopy - these were things whose theory we learnt in A-levels, but now I had the first hand experience of carrying them out in the labs.

6) At the end of the day, research in the labs has provided me with a different perspective on what goes on behind the scenes of every prescribed pill. I understand better how researchers working at the forefront of drug discovery would complement the very doctors who are the first line of contact for patients. And given a chance, I would love nothing better than to pursue this avenue of research to greater depth. Here's keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks for visiting my blog, and have a great day. Cheers!

Donal, Me, Dr. Griffith

Aptly arranged alcoholic aperitif => craic = 90

Beef goulash at AK Henry's today

DAY 321

Jul 19

1) I woke up late today. Somehow, I tend to sleep in during rainy days, and today was no exception. Hurriedly got ready, and took the LUAS (tram) to RCSI. Thankfully, I've all but finished with my experiments, so today's job was mainly to analyse and interpret data from my last experiment, as well as helping out Donal with some of his own experiments.

2) At around 4pm, I headed over to the library with Dr. Fidelma Fitzpatrick, Consultant Microbiologist at Beaumont Hospital. She has agreed to help us prepare for the upcoming debate on Antibiotics Resistance. We were discussing some strategies when Dr. Sarah O'Neill joined in. We discussed a bit about the flow of the event, before Dr. O'Neill left and we continued where we had left off.

3) Another lesson learnt today is on the LUAS (tram) timetable. For morning rush hour (around 8am), trams come every 3-4 minutes, so missing one isn't that big of an issue. But at night, after 10pm (on weekdays), missing one tram means having to wait for at least 15 minutes for another. In my case, I missed the 10pm tram today, and had to wait almost half an hour for the next one to arrive. Not the ideal thing to do, especially in the damp, chilly weather.

4) Tomorrow I'm having an "off-day" of sorts, so that gives me (hopefully) ample time to prepare for the debate, as well as my climbing trip. Keeping my fingers crossed that the weather holds. Dublin and fine weather, if the twain could ever meet XD. Anyway, that's it for my blog update, and thanks for dropping by to visit. Have a lovely day, cheers!

With Dr. Fitzpatrick and Dr. O'Neill at the new academic building :)

Q: "Tell Us Why You Are In The Library This Week?"

A: Erm..., because I live here? ^^

Missing tram home = opportunity to improve night photography skills 

DAY 309/310

Jul 7 & 8

1) Both yesterday and today have been packed full with exciting activities! After lunch yesterday, I went to the new academic building, where some of us had signed up to be part of a photo/video shoot. This is in conjunction with the launching of the new RCSI website, which they're hard at work to create before the next academic term. So we were each "interviewed" by asking us what makes RCSI unique, after which we had our very own photoshoot :D Next, Zi Yan and I were involved in making a short skit (with him as doctor and me as patient) using brand new medical equipment. While it was a relatively simple procedure (just blood pressure, pulse oximetry, and body temperature), it felt really good to be literally one of the first to handle the devices.

2) I've completed all twelve experiments in the lab, and we'll be meeting up with Dr. Griffith on Monday to see if there are any new experiments to carry out. Yesterday was also washing up day, so that's the time they clean up the labs at the beginning of each month. Fast forward today, and the highlight of the day is making the trip with Zi Yan to the Laya Healthcare Spectacular in Merrion Square. Apparently, the festival runs over 3 days in Dublin and 2 days in Cork, showcasing the best in international street performance, interactive family activities, delicious artisan producers and street food from around the world as well as a pet wellness area with DSPCA (Dublin Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).

3) We spent the most part shuffling through the various food stalls, including many foreign stalls from various countries. There was even a stall selling Hungarian "langos"! We then went to the park, where we saw some performers doing juggling and balancing tricks. There was even a magic show, which drew a large following comprising mostly children. After taking lots of pics, I went and got some dinner at Yum Thai. Walked back to the library to enjoy, while Zi Yan went home to rest. That's been my story for the past two days, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks for visiting, and have a nice day. Cheers!

Best name for a street. Ever. ^^

City Spectacular!

That is one high slide for kids!

I had to look closely to understand that the kids were colouring in the spaces on the 

"ALL NEW NISSAN MICRA"

Sicilian arancini (stuffed rice balls)

Fire performers getting the crowd all riled up

DAY 307/308

Jul 5 & 6

1) So I'm slowly but surely settling in to my new environment. Not just my new home, but also the new academic building! It's so convenient to pop by the library after work, and make a cup of coffee/tea before lazing into one of those oh-so-comfortable chairs...

2) And just like that, it's been more than a month since my research started. Yesterday, we confirmed by mass spectrometry that my tenth experiment, had finally produced the ester product that we were looking for. This can then be used as the starting point for our reactions with various bismuth compounds to form novel complexes. At least that's the plan...

3) Which is exactly what we did today. Dr. Griffith came himself to carry out the reactions with me and Donal. It is the first time that I've handled liquid nitrogen with my own hands, and it was fascinating to watch all the insulating nitrogen gas envelope the reaction vessel as we poured it out. We carried out two new experiments today, before leaving it to continue stirring overnight.

4) That sums up the past two days, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Have a great day, cheers!

RCSI Academic Building at night ^^

The €52.00 for 30-day LUAS (tram) tickets are such good value!

Mixing things up a little: Full Irish breakfast at AK. Henry's

DAY 290/291/292

Jun 18/19/20

1) These past few days have seen me really busy. I very mistakenly thought that I had two things coming up this Friday - the Antibiotics Resistance Debate, and the Hiking Trip to Mt. Brandon. It turns out both of these are happening only next month! At least I've prepared for them, if a little prematurely. Instead, this Friday we have a talk on "Presenting Your Research" by Mr. Eric Clarke. This is part of the Friday Discovery Series 2017.

2) Up till today, we've carried out three experiments in the Apjohn Chemistry Lab. These experiments are those which I'll have to write an abstract about - they're many other experiments which I helped out but which are not part of my research. By yesterday evening, we had managed to synthesize our second product. However, after NMR spectroscopy today, we can't confirm 100% if we've got the correct product or not. So tomorrow we'll be heading to York House to use the mass spectrometer to ascertain once and for all the identity of our product. If it's a no go then it'll be back to square one haha.

3) Today has been a particular fruitful day as I managed to finish off the rest of the steps for the manufacture of the products. The reason I'm being vague by calling them products and not their full name is because their names are very very long. Anyway, I spent some time at night reading up articles on how to synthesize them and also the methods and techniques used. Hopefully once they are all ready, we can start forming complexes with bismuth to create antimicrobials/ antibiotics which are effective. But that's a long way to go. Until then, thanks for reading, and have a great day. Cheers!

Another interesting day in the labs :)

Yes, that is just ONE experiment 

(to produce just one out of many reactants that will be used in the bismuth-iron chelator complex)

Pesto pasta @ AK. Henry ^^

Nothing beats a Subway cookie... except TWO Subway cookies XD

DAY 285

Jun 13

1) Today started off quite slowly, but I ended up learning a lot of things. So I came to Dr. Griffith's office at 11am, and he brought me to meet Mr. Donal Keogan, a final year PhD student working on the same project. He showed me around the research lab (Apjohn Chemistry Lab, named after Professor James Apjohn, the first Professor of Chemistry, RCSI) in more detail.

2) For the most part, I was shadowing Mr. Keogan as he did his research on something unrelated (we'll be tackling my research project starting tomorrow). For now, I got used to the various laboratory apparatus and chemicals, as well as the safety hazards. At 2.00pm, me and some other newcomers (ranging from summer research students to graduate students) were brought on a walking tour of the premises by Mr. Emmet. We were each given a research laboratory notebook to keep track of our experiments, and as a guide.

3) While waiting for reflux of some key compounds to occur, I looked around and saw the many different apparatus which I will have to get used to working with. Among these are the rotary evaporator, NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) machine, electronic balances, and set-ups for reflux and distillation. In addition, there are plenty of safety protocol to follow, such as not lifting the fume hood too high up, and how to wash apparatus with acetone etc. A lot of new stuff if I'm honest, but hey - I've got two months right? Hope that everything goes smoothly and at the end, I'll be able to produce a five-point presentation for submission (that's part of the contract) during Research Day. That's been my day in a nutshell, and I hope you found it an enjoyable read. Thanks for visiting my blog, and have a nice day. Cheers!

Officially my first "working day" in the labs!

Blueprints for tomorrow

Dinner from Wok In