Chemistry student to mingle with Nobel laureates

university-of-waikato

Thu Apr 16 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Chemistry student to mingle with Nobel laureates

Thursday, 16 April 2009, 11:53 am
Press Release: University of Waikato

Media Release
April 16, 2009

Waikato University chemistry student to mingle with Nobel laureates

A talent for chemistry has landed Waikato University student Ben Deadman the rare opportunity to mingle with Nobel Prize winners.

Deadman, who’s just completing his Masters of Science in Chemistry, has been selected as a participant in the 59th Meeting of Nobel Prize Winners in Chemistry at Lindau in Germany later this year.

He was nominated by the Royal Society of New Zealand to be an ambassador for New Zealand at the June 28-July 3 gathering of promising young researchers and Nobel laureates.

“It’s a great opportunity,” says Deadman, a former student at Thames High School. “I’ll be joining around 600 researchers from all over the world for a week of lectures, discussions and networking.”

He’s currently seeking sponsorship to help cover the cost of his flights and accommodation.

In his Masters research, Deadman has been looking at the flavonoids, a class of anti-oxidant natural products, which can be used to identify the floral origins of different honeys.

After the Lindau meeting, he hopes to go on to a PhD at Cambridge University, where he’ll work on natural product synthesis under the supervision of Prof Steven Ley, CBE, BP Professor of Chemistry at Cambridge and a Fellow of the Royal Society, who heads the Innovative Technology Centre.

“I’ve been looking at natural products, and now I’m going to try and make them,” says Deadman. “I’m looking forward to being challenged academically and exploring a new research area.”

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