The employment of chemists, and scientists more generally, has come about through various means in the history of the profession. The earliest chemists were likely those employed by royalty and the mourning to embalm the dead in ancient Egypt. Several important scientists have been gentleman scientists. Boyle, Darwin, and Bacon were all able to fund their own experiments for whatever ideas happened to roll into their heads. Fritz Haber was one of many chemists employed for making weapons for the government. Henry Louis Le Chatelier along with many more modern chemists was paid by a school to teach the subject of chemistry and physical science. Still, there are chemists that are paid by companies to solve particular problems that the company deems important.
What exactly am I getting at? Well, there are a lot of different ways that scientists have made money over the years, and some didn't make any money through science at all. Even successful scientists sometimes made their discoveries simply for the pursuit of knowledge, if they could afford it. I think many scientists want to experiment, as long as it can be paid for. Grants and contacts can be really hard to come by, though. It's also a little strange that most of the money for scientific experiments come through taxes. Taxes are good, because it means that we all pay for research that benefits us, whether we realize that we should pay for it or not. On the other hand, when we pay taxes, we don't get much say on where, specifically, that money goes. I might want all of my money to go to colon cancer research instead of tobacco addiction, but the priority is ultimately set by the government.
I could go around to my local university and hand a check over to the graduate students running the experiment I think will benefit society the most. Maybe each of us could do that. We could possibly even convince some friends to help us out. Really, these small numbers would never amount to enough to affect a project. On the other hand, the scale that crowdfunding lends to the effort can really make things happen. Kickstarter has shown some recent success by allowing crowd funding to pay for an Oscar-winning movie. It only seems reasonable that science could be paid for in a similar way. There's now an answer just for that: Microryza.
This is pretty cool. Crowd funding seems like it might be a silly thing to do. There's a lot behind the argument that we pay for science through taxes because we just wouldn't do it otherwise. That being said, a tool like this allows those of us interested in research (and with a little extra scratch) could make our priorities known. If you have a special place in your heart for improved resolving power in UPLC columns, give a group a push. Maybe you want some extra money to flow towards natural products research looking in a wild new source - BAM! Cold, hard, electron-coded cash.
In the end, I think what would make a lot of us the happiest is to perform experiments that someone feels are important. Maybe it helps us feel like the experiments are important. Whatever the case, research institutes that have good ideas and capable, gloved hands should try reaching out for some crowd funding. This thing may or may not work out. It's new and that sort of thing sometimes happens to new ideas. Maybe, though, our society is mature enough to start letting its individual members pick what research they think is important.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Chem Coach: Instrumentician Style
Blog Carnivals are pretty cool and I've been wanting to participate in one since the "Favorite Reactions" carnival. SeeArrOh started this one, calling it the Chem Coach Carnival. The idea is to answer a series of questions about the daily ins and outs of being a professional chemist or student of chemistry in order to lend a hand to those considering getting into the field, or just to encourage those of us who are already here in some capacity. I think it's a great idea and I'll start right here.
Your current job: I'm an analytical chemist at a research institute. I use complex instrumentation to tease out qualitative and quantitative information about particular components in various types of samples. It's a large institute, and we're not all scientists. Even among the scientists there's a lot of diversity, so I get to run things from environmental guys, material scientists, medicinal chemists, all the way down to commercially developed materials and pharmaceuticals. My focus is mass spectrometry for its use in the analysis of tobacco constituents and designer drugs.
What do you do in a standard work day? Really, it could be anything. The particular group that I work in doesn't have just one contract or project that it works with full-time. Recently, my weeks consisted of a day or two of producing tobacco smoke condensate samples and standards, and then popping them into gas chromatography systems to determine how much of what was in them. I've also been using various mass spectral analysis techniques to identify designer drug components on a pretty regular basis. All of this work includes using balances, vials, solvents, and neat chemicals for putting together sample assays, and then time in front of computers telling instrumentation what to look for in them. I do the mechanical work on the instruments as well, so at any given time I may have to replace a gas tank, a copper line, a filter, a capillary column, or even a mass spec source before getting the show on the road. This is all before I come to the crucial data analysis step.
What kind of schooling/training/experience helped you get there? My training started with a great chemistry teacher in high school. Mrs. Swann taught us how to balance equations, what Boyle's law was, and what shapes orbitals had, but more importantly, she got excited about chemistry. After that, a really good undergraduate degree in chemistry (B.S. so I couldn't skimp on the math...even if I still feel like I did) is the only diploma that I've earned so far past high school. I got to take some graduate level courses from older guys that had strong research interests and expressed them well. While in college I worked for 4 years in a biophysics lab learning how to manipulate the surface chemistry of nano- and microparticles. I also interned at a biotherapeutics company for a summer where I learned a little GxP.
How does chemistry inform your work? Methods guys are constantly going to the literature to see if someone's analysed a molecule or substance before them. Sometimes we're looking for a specific method that will separate known compounds. Other times we're searching to see what unknowns should be in our matrix and at what concentrations. There are some chemistry rules that chromatographers and mass spec chemists use right off the top of their heads, like isotope distributions and atomic masses, but often you can find us going to reference books and literature to try and establish what behavior we can expect for a given chemical in a column with some mobile phase.
Finally, a unique, interesting, or funny anecdote about your career: So there's this mass spec thing that Waters developed and they call it an Atmospheric Solids Analysis Probe. It's really cool, because it works a little bit like DART, you can just dip or rub the capillary probe into your substance and stick it into a mass spec source and see what volatilizes off of it. Someone I worked with at the time got a hold of a "lazy cake" one day and we went looking for the melatonin mass in it. I'm not sure if anyone eventually found it, but it was hysterical to let everyone know that we were "mass spec-ing" a brownie.
Your current job: I'm an analytical chemist at a research institute. I use complex instrumentation to tease out qualitative and quantitative information about particular components in various types of samples. It's a large institute, and we're not all scientists. Even among the scientists there's a lot of diversity, so I get to run things from environmental guys, material scientists, medicinal chemists, all the way down to commercially developed materials and pharmaceuticals. My focus is mass spectrometry for its use in the analysis of tobacco constituents and designer drugs.
What do you do in a standard work day? Really, it could be anything. The particular group that I work in doesn't have just one contract or project that it works with full-time. Recently, my weeks consisted of a day or two of producing tobacco smoke condensate samples and standards, and then popping them into gas chromatography systems to determine how much of what was in them. I've also been using various mass spectral analysis techniques to identify designer drug components on a pretty regular basis. All of this work includes using balances, vials, solvents, and neat chemicals for putting together sample assays, and then time in front of computers telling instrumentation what to look for in them. I do the mechanical work on the instruments as well, so at any given time I may have to replace a gas tank, a copper line, a filter, a capillary column, or even a mass spec source before getting the show on the road. This is all before I come to the crucial data analysis step.
What kind of schooling/training/experience helped you get there? My training started with a great chemistry teacher in high school. Mrs. Swann taught us how to balance equations, what Boyle's law was, and what shapes orbitals had, but more importantly, she got excited about chemistry. After that, a really good undergraduate degree in chemistry (B.S. so I couldn't skimp on the math...even if I still feel like I did) is the only diploma that I've earned so far past high school. I got to take some graduate level courses from older guys that had strong research interests and expressed them well. While in college I worked for 4 years in a biophysics lab learning how to manipulate the surface chemistry of nano- and microparticles. I also interned at a biotherapeutics company for a summer where I learned a little GxP.
How does chemistry inform your work? Methods guys are constantly going to the literature to see if someone's analysed a molecule or substance before them. Sometimes we're looking for a specific method that will separate known compounds. Other times we're searching to see what unknowns should be in our matrix and at what concentrations. There are some chemistry rules that chromatographers and mass spec chemists use right off the top of their heads, like isotope distributions and atomic masses, but often you can find us going to reference books and literature to try and establish what behavior we can expect for a given chemical in a column with some mobile phase.
Finally, a unique, interesting, or funny anecdote about your career: So there's this mass spec thing that Waters developed and they call it an Atmospheric Solids Analysis Probe. It's really cool, because it works a little bit like DART, you can just dip or rub the capillary probe into your substance and stick it into a mass spec source and see what volatilizes off of it. Someone I worked with at the time got a hold of a "lazy cake" one day and we went looking for the melatonin mass in it. I'm not sure if anyone eventually found it, but it was hysterical to let everyone know that we were "mass spec-ing" a brownie.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Happy Mole Day!
Not a full post, I just didn't want Mole Day to pass and not give it some notice. 10-23 is a nice day this year, positioned right in the National Week of Chemistry and SeeArrOh's ChemCoach blog carnival. While we admire our favorite number on this special day, let's not forget about Amadeo Avogadro. His exploration into Avogadro's law got us well on the way to the ideal gas law, the first law that you really got the hang of in chemistry classes, and then learned was all screwed up and needed a lot more work to really use. This one's for you, Amedeo:
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Upcoming SERMACS 2012 Conference
I wasn't able to make it to the recent ACS national meeting, but I hope you were. A few states south of that meeting, Raleigh, North Carolina will be hosting the Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society this November 14-17. The headline for this year's event is Catalyzing Sustainable Innovation. This regional meeting will give southern chemists a great opportunity to become acquainted with chemistry in the surrounding area, make connections with nearby professionals, and get a foot in with potential employers.
I attended the 2011 meeting in Richmond and had a great time. I met several researchers and graduate students in the area and learned about their research interests. The host city was also a nice plus. You can't beat walking down the street for local Chesapeake Bay oysters during lunch. Raleigh, while not on a bay, will be a fun venue for the conference as well. The restaurant and bar scene in the downtown area is both accessible and nuanced. You're bound to find something you like and probably some live music as well.
The schedule will include an extensive program for undergraduates, poster sessions, symposia for several sub-disciplines, as well as two special conferences: The 41st Southeastern Magnetic Resonance Conference (SEMRC) and The Center for Solar Fuels (UNC EFRC) Conference. With such a diverse schedule, it's nearly certain that any chemist with an interest in coming to the area would find something to perk their interest. Notice, fellow mass spectrometrists, that two invited symposia will be presented on mass spectrometry alone.
The deadline for advance registration is nearly upon us (Oct. 31, 2012), so I'd suggest jumping over to the registration page to get your plans finalized for attending this year's SERMACS conference. Hope to see you there.
I attended the 2011 meeting in Richmond and had a great time. I met several researchers and graduate students in the area and learned about their research interests. The host city was also a nice plus. You can't beat walking down the street for local Chesapeake Bay oysters during lunch. Raleigh, while not on a bay, will be a fun venue for the conference as well. The restaurant and bar scene in the downtown area is both accessible and nuanced. You're bound to find something you like and probably some live music as well.
The schedule will include an extensive program for undergraduates, poster sessions, symposia for several sub-disciplines, as well as two special conferences: The 41st Southeastern Magnetic Resonance Conference (SEMRC) and The Center for Solar Fuels (UNC EFRC) Conference. With such a diverse schedule, it's nearly certain that any chemist with an interest in coming to the area would find something to perk their interest. Notice, fellow mass spectrometrists, that two invited symposia will be presented on mass spectrometry alone.
The deadline for advance registration is nearly upon us (Oct. 31, 2012), so I'd suggest jumping over to the registration page to get your plans finalized for attending this year's SERMACS conference. Hope to see you there.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Nobel Biochemistry - Something I Can Be Happy About
Congratulations to both Dr. Lefkowitz (who works just down the street from me!) and Dr. Kobilka for winning this year's Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work in G-protein-coupled-receptors. Isolating that the receptors themselves were discreet components in cells was important work that Lefkowitz had to undertake. On top of this, Kobilka's group ended up taking crystallographic data of the receptor as it mediates signal. This work has been outstanding both in terms of biochemical analysis and for the insight that it gives into G-protein-coupled-receptor mechanics. Really, the research sheds light on all sorts of receptor interactions. Pretty much everyone is agreeing that this work deserves a Nobel Prize, but, not unsurprisingly, there has been a loud outcry from many chemists that this biology research shouldn't be taking a prize away from hard-line chemists. Both scientists are M.D.s and the research itself is biochemical in nature, so it's not hard to see why the electron-pushers and p-chemists, mass spectrometrists and polymer synthesizers could feel pushed aside.
Avid readers of the chemistry blogosphere should be familiar with Derek Lowe and Ash Jogalekar who blog, respectively, at In the Pipeline and The Curious Wavefunction. Linked above are their positive responses explaining why they're happy with crystollographers in biochemistry receiving this year's Nobel. It happens that I agree with their opinions more than those chemists who are more "grumpy" about this year's prize. Protein interactions are definitely chemical interactions. Not only is this the case, but the impact for the discovery has been felt largely in the chemistry community. Chemists, along with the pharmacologists and doctors, are putting the work in to target these G-protein-coupled-receptors. I think that it's important to keep in our sights that the community who feels the impact of a discovery is more important than the field of those making the discovery.
In our line of work, it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish exactly which scientist is doing what. It's always clear who the synthesis guys are, but in the analytical labs (just as an example) you can't just assume that everyone is a chemist. Around the mass spectrometers I'm secure of my place as a chemist, but many of us have formal training in biology or even pharmacology. When you get right down to it, chromatography can be thought of as method engineering and the same can be said for mass spectrometry. When you really start slicing and dicing labels, lots of scientists might or might not be chemists based on how much of a purist the guy with the label tape is.
Now that I'm done saying how much I'm okay with the ambiguity that sometimes flows into the ranks of "chemists" worldwide, I can still see why many are still upset about the chemistry prizes going to biologists. More specifically, this research is chemistry with relevance in medicine and physiology. There is a separate prize for that. While I'm fine with the recipient choices, I do wonder what exactly distinguishes medical research and medicinal chemistry research.
Avid readers of the chemistry blogosphere should be familiar with Derek Lowe and Ash Jogalekar who blog, respectively, at In the Pipeline and The Curious Wavefunction. Linked above are their positive responses explaining why they're happy with crystollographers in biochemistry receiving this year's Nobel. It happens that I agree with their opinions more than those chemists who are more "grumpy" about this year's prize. Protein interactions are definitely chemical interactions. Not only is this the case, but the impact for the discovery has been felt largely in the chemistry community. Chemists, along with the pharmacologists and doctors, are putting the work in to target these G-protein-coupled-receptors. I think that it's important to keep in our sights that the community who feels the impact of a discovery is more important than the field of those making the discovery.
In our line of work, it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish exactly which scientist is doing what. It's always clear who the synthesis guys are, but in the analytical labs (just as an example) you can't just assume that everyone is a chemist. Around the mass spectrometers I'm secure of my place as a chemist, but many of us have formal training in biology or even pharmacology. When you get right down to it, chromatography can be thought of as method engineering and the same can be said for mass spectrometry. When you really start slicing and dicing labels, lots of scientists might or might not be chemists based on how much of a purist the guy with the label tape is.
Now that I'm done saying how much I'm okay with the ambiguity that sometimes flows into the ranks of "chemists" worldwide, I can still see why many are still upset about the chemistry prizes going to biologists. More specifically, this research is chemistry with relevance in medicine and physiology. There is a separate prize for that. While I'm fine with the recipient choices, I do wonder what exactly distinguishes medical research and medicinal chemistry research.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Chemistry in Space!
Curiosity, the new Mars rover, has an awesome suite of analytical tools on board to collect data about the red planet's surface. The Mars Science Laboratory is equipped with X-Ray fluorescence and diffraction spectrometers, a gas chromatography system, a mass spectrometer, a laser spectrometer, and other detectors and cameras to give a good look at anything that could be found in or on the rocks that the rover can encounter. (Have a look for yourself! http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/instruments/)
All of these spectrometers and separation systems are great tools to look for either minerals or organic molecules. The mineralogical instrumentation is interesting to those scientists hoping to gain insight into Mars' geological events. The instrumentation that can detect carbon-based molecules, however, could be the first tools to detect traces of life outside of our planet. We don't necessarily know that life in other parts of the universe would use carbon as its molecular building block of choice, but since every life form on Earth does, it's a safe place to start searching.
This awesome instrumentation could lead to more interesting questions than just whether organic compounds are found on Mars. Let's say that the rover does encounter organic molecules. We actually can't actually jump to the conclusion that even complex organic molecules came from living processes on Mars. Really, scientists would have to consider that possibility along with the possibility that the molecules were "built" somewhere else, and then transferred to Mars. I think that might be the most interesting potential outcome of this rover mission. If we could nail down any molecules on the surface of Mars that were created by a living thing, or a living thing itself, we might be able to find direct evidence of panspermia, a phenomenon where life is spread throughout the cosmos by rocks flying through space. Honestly, I think I might be ready for NASA to conduct the experiments a little differently and make an attempt to bring life from Earth and see if it can catch on on another surface (although we'd want to be careful how we do this: see the NASA Planetary Protection program). We tend to look backwards with this sort of science, but causing panspermia ourselves could also prove a great deal.
All of these spectrometers and separation systems are great tools to look for either minerals or organic molecules. The mineralogical instrumentation is interesting to those scientists hoping to gain insight into Mars' geological events. The instrumentation that can detect carbon-based molecules, however, could be the first tools to detect traces of life outside of our planet. We don't necessarily know that life in other parts of the universe would use carbon as its molecular building block of choice, but since every life form on Earth does, it's a safe place to start searching.
This awesome instrumentation could lead to more interesting questions than just whether organic compounds are found on Mars. Let's say that the rover does encounter organic molecules. We actually can't actually jump to the conclusion that even complex organic molecules came from living processes on Mars. Really, scientists would have to consider that possibility along with the possibility that the molecules were "built" somewhere else, and then transferred to Mars. I think that might be the most interesting potential outcome of this rover mission. If we could nail down any molecules on the surface of Mars that were created by a living thing, or a living thing itself, we might be able to find direct evidence of panspermia, a phenomenon where life is spread throughout the cosmos by rocks flying through space. Honestly, I think I might be ready for NASA to conduct the experiments a little differently and make an attempt to bring life from Earth and see if it can catch on on another surface (although we'd want to be careful how we do this: see the NASA Planetary Protection program). We tend to look backwards with this sort of science, but causing panspermia ourselves could also prove a great deal.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
SERMACS 2011
In case you're a chemist in the Southeastern region of the United States, the SERMACS deadline was recently extended until Friday. I will probably be there for my first conference with my current employer. This one's being held in Richmond, VA, so hopefully between now and then I'll be able to find something fun to do in Richmond for the an evening or so.
On the other hand, the North Carolina ACS meeting is coming up shortly as well. This one is in Raleigh on the last Friday of this month (September). I'm looking forward to seeing if I run into many of my old professors at UNC.
On the other hand, the North Carolina ACS meeting is coming up shortly as well. This one is in Raleigh on the last Friday of this month (September). I'm looking forward to seeing if I run into many of my old professors at UNC.
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