MoSMed PhD researchers taking part in the Future Leadership Programme

Thanks to Dr Chris Russell for running the Future Leaders Programme for our PhD researchers last week! A fantastic 2 days where our researchers considered leadership, strategy, and decision making, helping prepare them for leadership roles in academia and industry in the future!

A scenic view of a university campus pathway lined with blooming flowers and trees. The pathway is surrounded by historic red-brick buildings. The words "Have a great Spring Break" are overlaid on the image.

And just like that, this term is over! 🌸

Wishing all our staff and students a fantastic Spring break, we'll see you soon!

#WeAreNCL

🔓 We kept this quiet long enough.

ICEMCR 2026 Costa Rica

30 researchers. Debates with teeth. One country running on 99% renewables.

The future of energy materials.

🌐 icemcr.com
🔬 www.rsc.org/events/detai...

The secret's out. ⚡ @rsc.org @chemistryncl.bsky.social @prxenergy.bsky.social

🌿 Excited that NU Chemical Biology has achieved the #Gold LEAF Award! This is the highest level of recognition for sustainable laboratory practice - less than one year after earning our Silver Award. Here’s to even greener science ahead! 💚🔬

@mcallisterlab.bsky.social @chemistryncl.bsky.social

#InternationalDayOfWomenAndGirlsInScience - we’re proud to highlight the vital contributions of women across our #ChemBio labs at Newcastle University! Our researchers & students drive innovation with their curiosity, resilience, and creativity. 🧪 👩‍🔬 🌟 #WomenInSTEM #February11

Promotional image for a 24-hour online conference on LinkedIn hosted by American Elements and Royal Society of Chemistry, scheduled from March 3, 2026, at 12:00 GMT to March 4, 2026, at 12:00 GMT. Features an orange and black background with abstract geometric designs and the text 'Save the date.'

Looking for something inspiring to kick off your 2026? 🎉 #RSCPoster registration is OPEN!

Join one of the largest online poster events, uniting researchers from every career stage & every corner of the scientific community.

We can’t wait to see what you’ll share ➡️ https://rsc.li/3XGGvzS

#ChemSky

Join us in Newcastle for the RSC Organic Chemistry Community North-East Regional Meeting on 27th March 2026 (10:00-18:00)! (Free) Registration and poster abstract submission is now open (deadline: 13th March). @rsc.org @chemistryncl.bsky.social @sciencesncl.bsky.social www.rsc.org/events/detai...

The image shows a woman with long dark hair wearing glasses and a gold necklace. They are holding a certificate in front of a backdrop featuring "For Women in Science" and associated logos from L'Oréal and UNESCO.

We're wishing a huge congratulations to Dr Kezia Sasitharan for being awarded a prestigious L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Young Talent award! 👏

She has been recognised for her work on nanomaterials and emerging photovoltaic technologies. ⬇

https://bit.ly/4rztYef

#WeAreNCL #FWIS2025

🌟 Applications are now open for the Next Generation of AI Chemists Programme, a funded opportunity for penultimate-year undergraduates from backgrounds under-represented in chemistry.

📍 Imperial London | 📅 6–7 July 2026 (in person)
👉 Apply here: buff.ly/MLfs9Zg

@sciencesncl.bsky.social @sagencl.bsky.social @newcastleuni.bsky.social @cnavarroreguero.bsky.social

We are pleased to invite you to our @iupac.org Global Women’s Breakfast on Tue 10th February from 8:30am in the Boiler House – with free breakfast and refreshments! This year's theme is "Many Voices, One Science… Everyone’s Business".

Please register below:
www.ncl.ac.uk/nes/news/eve...

Now out in JACS! 🎉 : "Computing Solvation Free Energies of Small Molecules with Experimental Accuracy"! It's been a pleasure to collaborate on this with Harry Moore (@jhmchem.bsky.social) & Gábor Csányi pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Kezia was recognised for her work in the field of Sustainable Development and will use the award to explore new inorganic materials for energy conversion and storage. 🔋🌍 @unesco.org

Congratulations to Kezia Sasitharan (@nano-kez.bsky.social), on being awarded a prestigious L'Oréal-UNESCO 'For Women in Science Young Talent' programme award! The award was presented in the House of Commons last night, with regional support from @chionwurah.bsky.social, MP Newcastle Central & West.

Welcome to the Kawamura Research Group, Dr Eleanor Taylor-Newman! 🎉 Eleanor joins us as an EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellow - we’re delighted to have her in the team and look forward to the exciting work ahead!

#chemicalbiology #EPSRCFellow #WelcomeToTheTeam

👏 We're thrilled that Keir Pebody received a Poster Presentation Prize at the RSC's 1st Protein and Peptide Science Group Conference in Nottingham, for innovative research and an outstanding poster presentation.

#Innovation #ResearchExcellence #ProteinScience #PeptideScience

A really nice report on our recent @natsynth.nature.com article.
#chemsky #organosodium

Covalent Alkynylpyridopyrimidinones Targeting Cysteine 775 of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Overcome Resistance to Current Therapies Inhibitors of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) kinase activity are clinically effective treatments for lung cancers driven by activating mutations in EGFR. Resistance to inhibitors develops ove...

New paper out in J Med Chem showing that covalent targeting of C775 has the potential to treat osimertinib resistant lung cancer. Really proud of this work and the team that did it! @nudrugdiscovery.bsky.social @nucancer.bsky.social @crhorizons.bsky.social pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

"We welcome the UK re-joining Erasmus+ which will open up more opportunities for our students to experience learning and living in other European nations. European students enrich the university experience and the cultural diversity of our campus. Our students say these exchanges are life-changing experiences and we will be working with the Government to ensure we can implement Erasmus+ for 2027." A quote by Professor Ruth Valentine from Newcastle University Includes a professional headshot of Professor Ruth Valentine smiling

Following today's announcement we'll be working to ensure we can implement Erasmus+ for 2027

We welcome the UK re-joining Erasmus+ which will open up more opportunities for our students to experience learning and living in other European nations.

#WeAreNCL #WeAreInternational

Flash-Infrared-Annealing-Enabled High-Temperature Sintering of Photoanodes on Flexible Polymer Foils for Ultralight Photovoltaics Ultralight photovoltaics are indispensable wherever every gram counts, from self-powered Internet of Things nodes to free-hanging greenhouse covers. In dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) the required 4...

🎉Huge congrats to 🌟David on paper #1! Flash-Infrared-Annealing-Enabled High-Temperature Sintering of Photoanodes on Flexible Polymer Foils for Ultralight Photovoltaics | ACS Energy Letters pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... @acs.org @newcastleuni.bsky.social @chemistryncl.bsky.social #DSSC😘 #PhdLife

Mechanochemical synthesis of organosodium compounds through direct sodiation of organic halides - Nature Synthesis A mechanochemical protocol for the direct synthesis of organosodium compounds is developed using cheap and shelf-stable sodium lumps and readily available organic halides under bulk, solvent-free cond...

Very pleased to share this new article in @natsynth.nature.com with the structure of a short-lived organosodium complex provided by the Service. Well done to all involved at @chemistryncl.bsky.social and Hokkaido University: www.nature.com/articles/s44...
#chemsky #crystallography

Thrilled that Emma Wadforth has defended her PhD viva! 🎓✨ This is the result of hard work, determination & her commitment to research. Thank you to Emma’s examiners, Prof Steven Cobb and Dr Céline Cano for their valuable roles and time. #PhDAchievement #ChemicalBiology @mosmedcdt.bsky.social

A Graph Neural Network Charge Model Targeting Accurate Electrostatic Properties of Organic Molecules Common methods for assigning atom-centered partial charges in computational chemistry, such as RESP and AM1-BCC, rely on quantum mechanical or semiempirical calculations of the molecule of interest, which are expensive to compute and dependent on the choice of input molecular conformer(s). Graph neural network (GNN) based continuous atom embeddings have been shown to be a fast and flexible solution for partial charge assignment, but those developed so far for condensed phase modeling have usually been trained to reproduce AM1-BCC charges, which themselves seek to reproduce the HF/6-31G(d) molecular electrostatic potential. Here, we investigate the suitability of various common charge assignment schemes, including ESP and atoms-in-molecule (AIM) based approaches, as training targets for new GNN-based charge models. We show that the strengths of both approaches can be combined by cotraining GNN models to AIM charges and molecular dipoles and electrostatic potentials. We collect a data set of quantum mechanical AIM properties computed at a high level of theory (ωB97X-D/def2-tzvpp), in both vacuum and implicit solvent, and train new GNN charge models to each. Charges can be scaled between the vacuum and solvated charge sets, and combined with Lennard-Jones parameters optimized using the Open Force Field infrastructure, to yield force fields that are suitably polarized for condensed phase modeling. We further demonstrate that the charge models may be applied to explore electrostatics-driven structure–activity relationships in medicinal chemistry. The charge models are freely available at: https://github.com/cole-group/nagl-mbis/.

📢 Now out in #JCTC "A Graph Neural Network Charge Model Targeting Accurate Electrostatic Properties of Organic Molecules". Collaborative effort between @charlie-adams.bsky.social, @chemistryncl.bsky.social, @openforcefield.org & Kuano! #compchem

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

As part of the Inspiring Women in Chemical Biology seminar series, sponsored by the Biochemical Society, we were delighted to host Prof. Clare Mahon from Durham University. A huge thank you to Clare for sharing her research with our #ChemicalBiology and #Chemistry teams at Newcastle! #WomenInSTEM

Honored to be featured in the Royal Society's #WomenInSTEM display celebrating 80 years of women FRS Fellows! 🙌✨
#STEMinist #LabCoatLegends #ScienceSquad @chemistryncl.bsky.social @royalsociety.org

Come join us @chemistryncl.bsky.social for a postdoctoral position #pdra in #crystallography with Prof Mike Probert. Working on high throughput and high pressure crystallisation, and #SCXRD.
jobs.ncl.ac.uk/job/Newcastl...

The annual Chemistry Professional Awareness event is nearly upon us! Thank you to all the alumni who have made time to come back on campus and talk to our Stage 3 students on Friday afternoon; we are looking forward to seeing you soon!

Three researchers from Newcastle University in lab coats standing in front of a laboratory setup, smiling at the camera, with a caption Newcastle scientists help discover clean and green way to recycle Teflon® New research by scientists from Newcastle University and the University of Birmingham demonstrates a simple, eco-friendly method to break down Teflon®, one of the world’s most durable plastics, into useful chemical building blocks. The findings reveal a low-energy, waste-free alternative to conventional fluorine recycling.

Newcastle University research on rheumatoid arthritis: an individual participating holding a red wrist. The caption reads Newcastle scientists find muscle wasting reversed in patients with rheumatoid arthritis using new drug Patients with rheumatoid arthritis increased their leg muscle volume when treated with an anti-rheumatic drug, offering new hope for improved muscle health. Research has shown that 15 patients given Tofacitinib as part of a 6 month experimental medical study found their leg muscles increased in size, particularly in the thigh.

Two athletes training on treadmills at Newcastle University's Cochrane Park sports facility, which supports Newcastle United women's football team. Caption reads Newcastle’s Cochrane Park sports facility is the new training base for NUFC women Newcastle University’s Cochrane Park sports facility is the new training base for Newcastle United women, helping to support the continued success of women’s football. NUFC has secured its own dedicated training, medical and player care spaces at the facility, bringing the women’s team closer geographically to the men’s and academy’s current training facilities.

Portrait of Professor Chantal Conneller from Newcastle University, looking to the side with a rocky background, celebrating receiving the Grahame Clark medal by the British Academy for contributions to Prehistory. Caption reads Newcastle University academic awarded prestigious British Academy honour. Professor Chantal Conneller, Professor of Early Prehistory, has been awarded the prestigious Grahame Clark medal by the British Academy in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the field. Professor Conneller was recognised for transforming understanding of the Mesolithic period in the 21st century.

From welcoming NUFC Women at Cochrane Park, to helping patients with rheumatoid arthritis, October has been an incredible month!

Find out more 🔗 https://bit.ly/43Mjlvd

#WeAreNCL

A person holds a pumpkin painted with the Newcastle University crest in front of the Newcastle University arches on a sunny day.

👻 Happy Halloween from Boocastle Oooniversity! 🎃

#WeAreNCL #Halloween #Pumpkin #PumpkinArt

New research from @sciencesncl.bsky.social with collaborators at @unibirmingham.bsky.social has developed an energy-efficient way of recycling Teflon, best known for its use in non-stick coatings, without toxic solvents.

Read more: tinyurl.com/56495vey