John Moraes
Someone once said that the one of the most wonderful aspects of being a scientist is the fact that you can walk into work each morning, put your thinking cap on and say to yourself: “Well, what shall I discover today?” In reality, the role of a PhD student is probably not as glamorous as that, but at the end of the day it is a truly fascinating and rewarding way to spend the daylight hours.
I’m always puzzled by people who say that they aren’t interested in science. Science is such a broad term that covers a wide range of disciplines from astronomy to medicine to geology to mathematics; it is difficult to find an area of our lives that science does not have a profound role in shaping. What I admire about science, and in particular about chemistry, is that it allows me to interact with specialists from so many other fields. I’ve been to numerous conferences where nuclear physicists, medical doctors, mechanical engineers and marine biologists all come to interact with research chemists and talk about the common ground their disciplines cover. Chemistry is like the circle in a Venn diagram that all the other circles want to be friends with.
I did my undergraduate and Masters degree in Chemistry at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. It was there that I became interested in scientific research and the potential it had to improve both the quality of our lives and the planet we inhabit. After taking a four year break from university to travel the world, write a book, get married and work nine-to-five jobs, I found myself gravitating back to university – this time to do a PhD.
My current project at the University of Sydney involves making some pretty fascinating hybrid nano-structures from cheap materials like silica (sand) and polymers (plastic). I like to call what I’m doing “macromolecular engineering.” I take simple silica nanoparticles and graft smart polymers onto it. The polymers have a range of functions so I can decide which one I want and simply ‘dial-up’ the properties. With this relatively simple concept, I can make hybrid particles in a range of sizes, shapes and properties. I can make them change shape in response to changes in temperature or pH; I can make them waterproof or hydrophilic (water-loving); I can make them glow in the dark or have anti-bacterial properties. The ideas just keep coming in. Some are simply to investigate various aspects of nanoengineering (i.e. have fun), while others have more practical purposes.
I am currently investigating the use of these hybrid particles in a range of applications from drug-delivery vehicles to photonic crystals. My project has seen me cover a lot of ground that, as a chemist, I’d never encountered before. Being at the University of Sydney is a great advantage because I can ask for help from people with expertise in a wide range of fields. I also have access to a broad spectrum of instruments which has helped to make my project a success.
I try to make the most of the opportunities that the university and the wider chemistry community offer. Last year I was awarded a grant from the Royal Australian Chemical Society (RACI) to go to Japan and collaborate with a well-known research group in Kyoto. Assoc. Prof. Kohji Ohno and his team there helped tremendously in moving my project forward and sharing some of the wonderful chemistry that they were working on. I came back to Sydney and presented my research at a national conference in Coffs Harbour where I won the prize for the best oral presentation. This in turn led to me being invited to submit an article to the Australian Journal of Chemistry and indirectly to having my research featured on the cover of the September issue of the journal.
The University of Sydney is very supportive in terms of funding for international conferences as well as bringing international speakers to Sydney. Two of my favourite speakers have been Prof. William Phillips, a Nobel laureate in physics who spoke here at Sydney and Prof. Craig Hawker, an ex-pat Australian chemist from Santa Barbara who spoke at a polymer conference in Cairns. I love going to these lectures and being inspired by scientists at the top of their game. It is an integral part of the university experience and one that really contributes to my overall appreciation of science. I always come out of these lectures with my thinking cap on saying “Well, what shall I discover tomorrow?”