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Fireworks, rainbows and magic bullet medicines
A Keele University professor is set to use the 'fun' chemistry of fireworks and stink bombs in a public lecture to show the link with cutting edge medical research.
Professor Pat Bailey, Dean of Natural Sciences at Keele, will give the latest lecture in the University's programme of Inaugural Lectures for 2008/2009, on Tuesday, 18 November, 2008, in the Westminster Theatre on the Keele campus. The title of the lecture is 'Fireworks, rainbows and magic bullet medicines.'
Professor Bailey says: 'What are the things that first inspired us to study our academic discipline? For me, chemistry was all about lovely colours, beautiful crystals, and making stink-bombs and fireworks. But how is it that I am still fascinated by science, and inspired by chemistry? In this lecture, I will try to draw the links from my childhood enthusiasm through to my current research on drug design and delivery. I will explore how we can control chemical reactions, and use chemistry to create new molecules that are important for biology, forensics, and materials science. By using simple demonstrations, and scientific explanations of them, I hope to show you how the 'fun' chemistry of fireworks, stink-bombs and colour is linked to chemistry at the cutting edge of research, including the 'magic bullets' of modern medicine.'
Patrick Bailey undertook his BA (1980) and DPhil degrees in Chemistry at Oxford, and moved to a lectureship at York in 1983. In 1993, he took up the Chair of Organic Chemistry at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, moving to Manchester in 2001, and then Keele in 2008. His research is focused on various aspects of synthetic and medicinal chemistry, and has been published in around 100 papers. He has received a Yorkshire Cancer Research Campaign career development award (1986-91), the Zeneca Research Award for Organic Chemistry in 1994, and was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1999).
His teaching has been recognised by the RSC Higher Education Teaching Award (1998), the RSC Nyholm Lectureship (2000), the UMIST Teaching Award (2003) and a National Teaching Fellowship (2005). He has also given numerous 'popular' chemistry talks to schools and the general public, for which he received the 1999 Lord Kelvin Lectureship by the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
Keele's programme of Inaugural Lectures are given by newly established professors within the University and aim to give an illuminating account of the speaker's own subject specialism. The lectures, which start at 6 pm in the Westminster Theatre, are chaired by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Janet Finch. Admission is free; no ticket is required.
The other lectures in the series are: Tuesday, 9 December 2008, Professor Jan Wenzelburger, Economics, 'Hog cycles and the dynamics of markets'; Wednesday, 14 January 2009, Professor Danielle van der Windt, Primary Care Epidemiology, 'The epidemiology of pain: a tale of two countries'; Tuesday, 17 February 2009, Professor Marilyn Andrews, Health and Rehabilitation, 'Innovation in healthcare education: a model for the future'; Wednesday, 18 March 2009, Professor Tony Bradney, Law, 'Should the Law Respect Religion?'; Wednesday, 13 May 2009 Professor Mihaela Kelemen, Management, 'Management, uncertainty, pragmatism: the new triumvirate.'
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