Developing the Culture of Adventure at Queen's University Belfast, School of Chemistry

通过团队合作，科学家可以汇集他们不同的知识和技能，比单打独斗更快地取得突破。一个著名的例子是发现了DNA的化学结构及其在遗传中的作用，这是由一位动物学家（詹姆斯·沃森）和一位物理学家（弗朗西斯·克里克）合作完成的。我们在这里提出的项目将鼓励具有不同专业知识和技能的科学家在团队中共同努力，取得令人兴奋的新突破。他们将从事的前三个项目是：1。分子计算dna是一种极其紧凑的信息存储方式——一个微小的片段包含了构成一个人所需的所有信息。这导致了DNA可以用于计算的想法，尽管实现这一目标的进展缓慢。最近，德国科学家取得了一项突破，他们认为与DNA密切相关的RNA可能是答案。贝尔法斯特女王大学的de Silva教授是分子计算领域的世界专家，他将与RNA领域的专家Vyle博士一起把这些碎片拼凑在一起。他们的助手将前往德国学习必要的技术，然后在de Silva教授和vyle博士的指导下返回贝尔法斯特，将其应用于RNA计算。分子是微观的乐高积木，构成了我们周围的一切。分子之间有孔的固体（“多孔”固体）就像分子筛一样，有助于清除环境中的污染物，并将药物释放到体内。想象一下液体分子筛，例如，它可以改善透析治疗，过滤掉血液中的毒素。詹姆斯博士（在多孔固体方面）和拉古纳斯博士（在离子液体方面）的专长将被结合在一起，制造出第一批多孔液体。左手光可以用来存储信息吗？你的左手和你的右手是不同的，因为你发现如果你把手套拿错了。同样，分子也具有“手性”，即左、右两种形式。更令人惊讶的是，即使是光也有偏手性。将这种所谓的“手性”光照射到分子上可以使它们改变它们的手性，这种行为可能被用于高密度数据存储和光学技术。然而，问题是，当光线关闭时，分子要么恢复到原来的形式，要么分解。弗莱彻博士在左手和右手分子方面的专长，以及莱恩博士在手性光方面的专长，将被结合在一起，制造出第一批稳定的分子，这些分子在熄灯时仍能保持它们的手性。这些项目将同时进行，持续六个月。当他们结束时，研究人员应该有足够的初步结果来向EPSRC寻求长期项目的资金。然后将邀请化学学院的所有员工提出其他以团队为基础的项目的建议。这些建议将由部门研究委员会根据结果的重要性和计划的周密程度来评判，最好的建议将得到资助。两年后，几个新的团队将成立，重要的新突破将引领新的研究领域，并最终在现实世界中得到有用的应用。

By working together in teams, scientists can pool their different knowledge and skills and make breakthroughs more quickly than working on their own. A famous example of this is the discovery of the chemical structure of DNA, and its role in heredity, which was made by a zoologist (James Watson) working with a physicist (Francis Crick). The project we propose here will encourage scientists with different expertise and skills, to work together in teams to achieve exciting new breakthroughs.The first three projects they will work on are:1. Molecular computingDNA is an extremely compact way to store information - a microscopic piece contains all the information needed to make a human being. This lead to the idea that DNA could be used in computing, although progress has been slow to achieve this. Recently, German scientists made a breakthrough which suggests that RNA, which is closely related to DNA, could be the answer. In Queen's University Belfast, the world expert in molecular computing, Professor de Silva, together with Dr Vyle, who is an expert in RNA, will put the pieces together. Their assistant will travel to Germany to learn the necessary techniques, and then return to Belfast to apply them to RNA computing guided by Professor de Silva and Dr Vyle.2. Liquids with holes inMolecules are the microscopic Lego bricks that make up everything around us. Solids with holes between the molecules ('porous' solids) act like molecular sieves, and are useful for removing pollutants from the environment, and to release medication into the body. Imagine a liquid molecular sieve, that could, for example, improve dialysis treatments to filter out toxins from blood. The expertise of Dr James (in porous solids) and Dr Lagunas (in ionic liquids) will be brought together to make the first porous liquids.3. Can left-handed light be used to store information?Your left hand is different to your right hand, as you discover if you get your gloves the wrong way round. In the same way, molecules have 'handedness', i.e. left and right forms. More amazingly, even light can have handedness. Shining this so-called 'chiral' light onto molecules can make them change their handedness, and this behaviour could potentially be used in high-density data storage and in optical technology. However, the problem is that the molecules either revert to their previous form when the light is switched off, or they decompose. The expertise of Dr Fletcher in left- and right-handed molecules, and of Dr Lane in chiral light will be brought together to make the first stable molecules which keep their handedness when the light is switched off.These projects will run simultaneously and last six months. When they are over, the researchers should have enough initial results to seek funding for longer-term projects from EPSRC. Proposals for other team-based projects will then be invited from all the staff in the School of Chemistry. These proposals will be judged by the Departmental Research Committee on the basis of how important the results would be, and how well-planned they are, and the best ones will be funded.At the end of two years, several new teams will have been established, and important new breakthroughs made leading to new research areas and eventually to useful applications in the real world.