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，比独自工作更快地取得突破。一个著名的例子是DNA的化学结构及其在遗传中的作用的发现，这是由动物学家（詹姆斯沃森）与物理学家（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合作，以实现令人兴奋的新突破。他们将参与的前三个项目是：1. DNA是一种极其紧凑的存储信息的方式--一个微小的片段包含了构成人类所需的所有信息。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，这表明与DNA密切相关的RNA可能是答案。在贝尔法斯特的女王大学，世界分子计算专家德·席尔瓦教授和RNA专家维尔博士将把这些碎片拼在一起。他们的助手将前往德国学习必要的技术，然后返回贝尔法斯特，在de Silva教授和Vyle博士的指导下将其应用于RNA计算。分子中有孔的液体就像微观的乐高积木，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，可用于从环境中去除污染物，并将药物释放到体内。想象一下一种液体分子筛，它可以改善透析治疗，从血液中过滤出毒素。詹姆斯博士（多孔固体）和拉古纳斯博士（离子液体）的专业知识将被汇集在一起，使第一个多孔液体。左旋光可以用来存储信息吗？你的左手和右手是不同的，因为你发现如果你把手套拿错了。同样地，分子也有“手性”，即左和右的形式。更令人惊讶的是，光也有手性。将这种所谓的“手性”光照射到分子上可以使它们改变手性，这种行为可能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，分子要么恢复到以前的形式，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，以制造第一个在光关闭时保持其手性的稳定分子。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，以便从EPSRC寻求长期项目的资金。其他团队为基础的项目的建议，然后将被邀请从化学学院的所有工作人员。部门研究委员会将根据研究结果的重要性和计划的完善程度对这些建议进行评判，最好的建议将得到资助。两年后，将建立几个新的团队，并取得重要的新突破，从而开辟新的研究领域，并最终在真实的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.