Structural and Mechanistic Enzymology
Dona and Danilo represented the Leung Group at the 19th Tetrahedron Symposium, which was held in Riva del Garda, Lake Garda, Italy. Dona and Danilo presented their PhD projects as poster presentations at the conference. Well done and we hope you have enjoyed the break!
Together with A/Prof. Jon Sperry and Dr Viji Sarojini, Ivan was appointed co-deputy director of the Centre for Green Chemical Science at the School of Chemical Sciences, The University of Auckland. Ivan is delighted to be able to continue working with Director Professor James Wright, Jon, Viji and the other committee members to promote education and research in green chemical science in Auckland.
Big congratulations to Naasson, Nabangshu and Ryan for winning prizes at the 10th Annual SCS Research Showcase. Congratulations to Danilo for being chosen to speak at the 15 min talk. Thanks everyone in the Group for your effort in preparing your posters and presentations (and Mike for being the photographer)!
A selection of photos are shown below!
Ivan joined the Editorial Board of the journal Scientific Reports in the area of Biological Physics.
A pharmacy in Christchurch is starting to offer bisphenol A (BPA)-free receipts. Why is it important? Ivan gave his views in the following report.
https://www.pharmacytoday.co.nz/article/news/christchurch-pharmacy-moves-offer-bpa-free-receipts
You can now follow news of the @Leung_Group on Twitter!
As major retailers in New Zealand are removing plastic bags at checkout, Ivan gave his opinion about the plastic pollution problem and alternative ‘biodegradable’ plastic bags.
Link to New Zealand Herald article
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12056933
Link to Scoop article
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC1805/S00070/smc-how-biodegradable-are-bags.htm
Link to Science Media Centre article
https://www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2018/05/23/caution-urged-over-biodegradable-bags-expert-reaction/
Link to Chinese NZ Herald article
http://www.chinesenzherald.co.nz/news/lifestyle/are-%27biodegradable%27-plastic-bags-any-better-for-the-planet/
Congratulations to Dr Yu Li, who graduated with her PhD, and Mike Huang, who graduated with his MSc and PGDipSci degrees today! Yu is the first PhD graduate from the Leung Group and she contributed a lot in looking after the laboratory and mentoring junior students especially when the Group was in its infancy. Good luck and well done!
On behalf of the Centre for Green Chemical Science, we hosted Dr Aneela Maalik of COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (soon to become COMSATS University) of Abbottabad, Pakistan. Dr Maalik gave a talk titled “Synthesis of Small Organic Scaffolds as Potential Therapeutic Agents“. We hope Dr Maalik enjoyed her visit to the University of Auckland and it was a pleasure to have Dr Maalik over here.
We farewell Ram today, who will move to Melbourne to take up a postdoctoral fellowship at Monash University on the 18th of April. Ram is a very good scientist. He successfully transformed from being an organic chemist to a structural biologist / enzymologist during his PhD. Switching field in science is not easy and Ram has excelled in both organic synthesis and biology.
Safe travel Ram and good luck with your new job. We look forward to catching up with you at your oral exam and graduation ceremony soon.
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