1M laser chemical physics laboratory for Dr David Klenerman
endowed by BP; and the establishment of a second Chair of Inorganic Chemistry
which has been taken up by Professor Sanders .[In October 1997
Professor Hansen will take up the established Chair of Theoretical
Chemistry.]
2.89 M0.14 M0.53 M0.58 M0.98 M0.02 M0.09 M5.22 M
Structural and Dynamic techniques : Construction of a femtosecond laser for fundamental studies of reaction dynamics; the acquisition and exploration of one of the UK's first FT ICR mass spectrometers plus a 600 MHz NMR spectrometer (and perhaps a 750 MHz instrument jointly with Biochemistry) to advance our studies of synthesis and molecular recognition; the use of atomic probe microscopies and related surface techniques to explore molecular recognition phenomena, to probe nanoscale combinatorial synthesis, and to study dynamics and structure of surfaces at atomic spatial and nanosecond time resolution; development of improved electron microscopy techniques; advances in techniques for understanding of the protein folding problem; development of more precise spectroscopic and diffractometry methods to improve spatial, frequency and time resolution in the solid state, on surfaces and in the gas phase.Single-molecule detection and identification in a variety of contexts is a key goal.
Synthetic techniques . We expect to see major advances in: synthetic glycoscience; inorganic materials, including superconducting materials, coordination polymers and catalytically active clays; polymer LEDs; combinatorial approaches to bioactive molecules and biomimetic catalysts; synthesis in supercritical CO2; and molecular biological approaches to new polyketide antibiotics.
Theoretical techniques : We are planning the acquisition (with other departments) of a Hitachi massively-parallel supercomputer which will lead to major advances in understanding of many areas including surface science, modelling of atmospheres, and the modelling of `real' molecules in solution; the election of a Professor of Theoretical Chemistry to succeed David Buckingham in 1997 will also provide new directions which are as yet unknown. [Professor J-P Hansen will take up the Professorship of Theoretical Chemistry in October 1997, working in the fields of statistical mechanics, density functional theory and computer simulation of complex fluids and interfaces.]
All matters of strategy and resources (finance, space, personnel) come to weekly meetings of the executive management group consisting of the Head, Assistant Head, the four Sector Heads or their representatives, and two senior adminstrators: Dr H. R. N. Jones , responsible for all academic matters, and Mr D. J. Watson , responsible for technical and building matters. Other members of staff attend when appropriate, e.g. the Director of Teaching ( Keeler ) or Safety Committee Chairman ( Elliott ).
The executive management group allocates annual equipment and consumables budgets to Teaching , (through the Director of Teaching and the Teaching Committee), Support Services (such as Maintenance, Workshops, Stores, Spectroscopic Services, Library, Photography), and Academic Staff (through the four Sector Heads and their regular Sector meetings). It also discusses all impending vacancies in the Academic and Support establishment, moving posts into areas which will develop in the future: recent examples include the redeployment of a Lectureship from Physical to Theoretical Chemistry; redeployment of funds to create two Technical Officer (Ph. D. level) posts to manage Electronics design and X-ray diffraction; the creation of two Computer Officer posts to manage hardware and software development throughout the Department in a coordinated way; and appointment (using industrial funds) of a fund-raising officer to facilitate building improvements and expansion.
Other matters that come to the executive management group include: acquisition of major equipment, large grant applications with significant financial, personnel and space implications; reorganisation and rationalisation of services such as NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and X-ray diffraction; liaison with senior industrialists; cases concerning individual academic and support staff.
4M for refurbishment of laboratories to
a high standard, and Glaxo have provided a further 1M. However, the
provision of a safe and proper environment for all laboratory work still
requires major investment throughout the next assessment period and beyond.
The University provides training courses in topics as diverse as large and small group teaching, supervision of research students, time- and team management, while the Department appoints informal mentors for new staff who are at the beginning of their academic careers. All academic staff are subject to regular appraisals to enhance their performance in research, teaching and general contributions, using external awards as an important criterion of quality.
In addition to the established staff, our Royal Society University Research Fellows (URF) develop independent research groups and international research reputations. Newly appointed staff, URFs and other key staff are encouraged by the strategic allocation of underwritten studentships early in the Academic year, although all are of course required to seek external support for their research.
2M Ciba-Giegy award to
Professor Ley; by Glaxo-Wellcome's presence in the Department as an independent
research group; by the major collaboration on combinatorial chemistry set up
between Dr Abell, Dr Balasubramanian and Zeneca; by the BP Laser laboratory; by
a 250K grant from BNFL for Theoretical Chemistry; and by the Melville
Laboratory. Other current industrial grant and collaborating partners include
all major UK pharmaceutical companies, Unilever, BICC, AEA, Cray, Silicon
Graphics, Jeol, Bruker, Kobe Steel, DRA, Oxford Molecular, Shell, Ethyl,
Johnson Matthey, Cambridge Fluid Systems, BNFL, Motorola, ICI, 3M and
Chiroscience. This industrial dimension has been recognised by the
Department's recent first prize in the OST Technology Foresight competition for
Industry/Academe collaboration.
The Centre for Atmospheric Sciences is a joint venture with the Department of
Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP). The Centre, which is
based in Chemistry, aims to increase our understanding of the atmosphere and
its possible changes; it is about to be strengthened by the arrival of the DoE
funded European Ozone Unit. Other Interdisciplinary centres include the
Melville Laboratory, which is a collaborative venture with Chemical
Engineering, Engineering, Materials Science and Physics, and is primarily
funded by industry; the Medical Research Council's Interdisciplinary Research
Centre (IRC) in Protein Engineering, which is directed by Professor
Fersht ; the national Interdisciplinary Research Centre (IRC) in
Superconductivity and the Cambridge Centre for Molecular Recognition. The
Superconductivity Centre involves collaborative work with groups in the
Departments of Physics, Material Sciences, Engineering, and Earth Sciences; its
future formal status is currently under review. The Molecular Recognition
Centre, which is currently funded by a 1.4M rolling grant, also
includes the Departments of Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Plant Sciences and
Pharmacology. The IRC in Protein Engineering has laboratories in the
Department of Chemistry and on the MRC site at Addenbrooke's Hospital. The
Department is also home to Professor Fersht's MRC Unit in Protein Function and
Design.
International collaboration, particularly through EU Networks has also been a priority. The Network on Antibody Catalysis (0.54M ecu, 24 groups in 7 countries) is coordinated by Professor Kirby , and Professor Johnson is coordinator for the Network on Metal Clusters in Catalysis and Organic Synthesis (1.486M ecu, 8 groups in 8 countries). Over the past four years we have been involved in at least 14 other EU networks (HCMP, Esprit or TMR); in addition 33 EU HCMP or TMR fellows have worked in the Department during the assessment period.
Improving the infrastructure of support facilities has been, and will continue to be, a key feature of our research strategy. During 1995, our cluster of Silcon Graphics workstations for teaching and research moved into a newly refurbished space next to the Library, and plans are in hand to bring together all the Department's X-ray diffractometers into a carefully designed space under the management of a newly appointed Technical Officer, Dr J. E. Davies . Similar rationalisation and management is envisaged for NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, electronic design and many workshop services. We have also instituted a more vigorous policy of high level training for key technical staff, some of whom have been sent to Switzerland or the USA for courses on spectrometer maintenance and repair.
The Inorganic Sector has been greatly strengthened by the election of Professor Johnson to the chair vacated by Lord Lewis, by the appointments of Professor Sanders to the newly established second Chair and of two new lecturers ( Duer, Rawson ), and by the arrival of Dr Halcrow as a Royal Society University Research Fellow. We expect to see significant enhancement of the activity of this sector in the near future, in regard to new research directions, industrial links and collaborations with others.
The Theoretical sector will be strengthened in July 1996 when Dr P. M. W. Gill takes up a lectureship (replacing D. C. Clary); Dr Gill is an expert in computational methods for quantum chemistry. An active search is under way for a worthy successor to Professor Buckingham, to take office in October 1997. [Professor J-P Hansen has accepted appointment to the Chair of Theoretical Chemistry from 1 October 1997 and will establish a research and teaching activity in statistical mechanics, density functional theory and computer simulation of complex fluids and interfaces with applications to colloidal suspensions, clays, polyelectrolytes and electric double layers, self-assembling supramolecular aggregates, etc.]
During the same period, 16 of the current staff have been awarded at least 26 significant prizes. The most notable awards to senior staff include the August Wilhelm von Hoffman Memorial prize of the German Chemical Society ( Fersht ; and Sir Alan Battersby ); the Harrie Massey Medal of the Institute of Physics ( Buckingham ); 1997 Bakerian Lectureship of the Royal Society and 1996 Paul Janssen Prize for creativity in Organic Chemistry ( Ley ); 1993 Jubilee Lectureship and Harden Medal of the Biochemical Society; 1993 FEBS Datta Medal, 1992 Max Tischler Prize, Harvard, and 1996 Feldberg Foundation prize, NIH (all Fersht ); Marie Curie Medal of the Polish Chemical Society ( Klinowski ).
RSC Prizes and Awards include Pedler Medals for Ley and Sanders ; Simonsen Lectureship, Natural Product Award and Flintoff Medal ( Ley ); the 1994 Bader Award and 1995 Materials Award ( Holmes ); Ingold Lectureship ( Kirby ); Josef Loschmidt Prize ( Sanders ); Interdisciplinary Award ( Pyle ); Main Group Chemistry Award ( Snaith ); and Tertiary Education Prize ( Warren ).
Most encouraging for the future are the awards to young staff, including three Meldola Medals ( Attfield , Wales , Wright ) and an ICI Research Award ( Abell ). Other prizes and awards include the 1992 Zachariasen Prize ( Elliott ) and the 1993 Pfizer Award ( Paterson )
Also during the past four years the current staff (excluding Royal Society Research Fellows) have given a total of over 600 research lectures in Britain and over 750 lectures in 40 countries abroad. These totals include around 50 named lectureships and visiting professorships. Around half of the total 1350 lectures were given by the `Top 10'; the remaining 650 were delivered by 36 of the remaining 37 staff. Only three of the staff in post throughout the period have delivered fewer than 10 invited lectures. The Royal Society Research Fellows have delivered a total of around 70 invited lectures, and the Category C fellows a further 200 invited lectures.
There has been national and international media coverage of research results from Messrs Fersht, King, Klinowski, Lambert, Ley, Paterson, Sanders, and Williams, and of the Atmospheric Science Group and the Melville Laboratory.
575K, and agreements
in place for the current and future years ensure that this will increase. The
academic staff raised from industrial sources additional research funding to
the value of over 100K p.a.which is not treated formally as
grant income
Glaxo-Wellcome have provided 1M to refurbish laboratories for our own
research and for a Glaxo-Wellcome research unit within the Department, and have
also provided a 250 MHz NMR spectrometer to be shared with the Department. A
visiting lectureship and further shared facilities are also under
negotiation.
Professor Ley has been awarded the Ciba-Geigy Research Fellowship, providing
2M of unconstrained research funds over a 10-year period; much of the
funding for the new FT ICR and 600 MHz instruments is industrial; combinatorial
chemistry has been set up between Dr Abell, Dr Balasubramanian and Zeneca; BP
have endowed the Laser Laboratory and Dr Klenerman's post; BNFL have awarded a
250K grant to Theoretical Chemistry for molecular modelling; and a
$20,000 gift from Dow (USA) has allowed the acquisition of a used 300 MHz NMR
spectrometer for a teaching laboratory. Several companies sponsor regular
colloquia or visiting lectureships -- these are listed below underResearch
and Training Environment.
In March 1996, the Department won a First Prize in the OST Foresight
Competition, marking the largest increase in industrial funding in competition
across all scientific departments in UK HE institutions. The consortium of Drs
Abell, Balasubramanian, Klenerman and Rayment, backed by Zeneca and BP, has
been short-listed for a further 1.5M Foresight grant to support their
remarkable collaborative project.
2M by EPSRC for Surface Science.During the past four years we have published well over 1000 research papers, mostly in international, refereed journals with good reputations and high impact factors. The Department's standing in international tables based on citations is also extremely high.
Members of the Department recently appointed to Chairs elsewhere include E. C. Constable (to Basel, accompanied by Dr C. E. Housecroft), R. M. Lynden-Bell (to Belfast) and D. C. Clary (to University College, London). Several other members of staff have been offered Chairs in distinguished departments.
Our available Ph D places are oversubscribed, and our Ph D students, postdoctoral workers and research fellows are much in demand for academic posts, research and management.positions in industry; and in the professions. Recent appointments in the UK include lectureships in Oxford, Nottingham, Birmingham, Durham, Imperial College, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Belfast; Royal Society University Research Fellows and a Dorothy Hodgkin Fellow.
The Todd and Linnett Visiting Professorships bring in world class scientists for extended stays; recent and prospective visitors include Overman, Whitesides, Marcus, and Schlag. The Merck-funded visiting lecturer scheme has brought Seebach, Schultz, Noyori and Wong to the Department in the past four years, and will bring K. C. Nicolaou and Christopher Walsh in 1996 and 1997. The industrially-sponsored Melville lectureship was established in 1995 and has already brought G Wegner and R H Grubbs to the Department.
We have also hosted over 50 sabbatical visitors from a total of around 20 countries since January 1992. These contribute to the research environment by talks and collaborations.
Professors Battersby , Lewis , Raphael and Thrush still contribute in many valuable ways including research publications, collaborations and general advice; in the assessment period they have also received many honours and prizes which have not been listed above. We also benefit greatly from interactions with the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, directed by Dr Olga Kennard FRS, whose building is attached to the Department.
Chemical Physics Letters ( Buckingham and King ),Folding and Design ( Fersht ),J. Materials Res.( Holmes ),J. of Molecular Biology ( Fersht ),Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry ( Keeler ),Molecular Physics ( Handy ),Phil. Mag ( Elliott ),Solid State NMR ( Klinowski ),Surface Science ( Lambert) ,Synlett ( Ley ),Theoretica Chim. Acta ( Handy ).
Professor King is Chairman of the European Science Foundation Programme on Gas-Surface Dynamics, Professor Johnson is a Council member of the EPSRC and Foresight TOP panel, while Professor Ley is Chairman of the BBSRC Biomolecular Sciences Committee. Many other staff make contributions to editorial boards, advisory boards, and research grant committees.