Raman van Wee was awarded a Messel Travel Bursary to attend the Global Young Scientists Summit held in January in Singapore. Here he tells us about his highlights from the conference.
"In the first plenary talk, David Baker shows how his group is using Generative Artificial Intelligence for the design of proteins that bind a target substrate or position chemicals such that a covalent reaction between them is catalysed. It was also exciting to hear from David Klenerman how they came up with the idea for Next-Generation Sequencing, which has become one of the most widely used techniques in molecular biology and medicine. I further enjoyed the talk from Tim Hunt where he explained how a combination of ingenuity and luck led him to discover cyclins as well as Brian Schmidt’s lecture on his discovery of the expansion of the universe. Lastly, there were also speakers who decided not to talk about their Nobel-prize winning research, such as Venki Ramakrishnan who explained why we age and Richard Roberts who delivered a convincing talk about why we should remove legal hurdles for the widespread use of Genetically Modified Organisms.
"Throughout the conference there was ample opportunity to speak to the decorated scientists over the coffee breaks, lunches, or organised dinners. A highlight was lunching with Brian Schmidt, Duncan Haldane, and Richard Roberts, being at a table where there were more Nobel prize winners than not was a surreal realisation. I also enjoyed my “Fireside Chat” where we could have a more informal conversation with David Klenerman and Adi Shamir in a smaller setting (see picture). Moreover, as the conference is organised and sponsored by Singapore’s National Research Foundation, we had the opportunity to learn more about Singapore’s fantastic research ecosystem through visits to various universities and research institutes. I went to Nanyang Technical University (NTU) and was impressed by the vision and resources of NTU to foster excellence in research.
"There were 100 posters covering a wide range of scientific fields and during the poster sessions, I particularly enjoyed learning about practical limitations in the production of Antibody Drug Conjugates, a novel mass spectrometry assay to quantify aggregation inhibition, and the development of strong hydrogels. The ability to speak in detail with the people who are experts in their project to understand aspects that may not be covered in a plenary talk make the poster session one of my favourite parts of any conference.
"Overall, I look back on a very inspirational summit that has demystified some of these great discoveries, by showing that most of them are driven by a combination risk-taking, challenging existing paradigms, and perseverance. Last, but not least, it was also very fun to exchange perspectives with young scientists from all over the world. I am grateful to the Society for Chemical Industry for their generous support through the Messel Travel Bursary to attend this summit."
Raman van Wee
PhD student
University of Oxford
Visit Blog