Marc Reid, 23, from Rutherglen, will be collecting his Honours MSci Chemistry degree from the University this Thursday, 14 July, and will then be preparing to start a postgraduate programme, supported by a scholarship from the Carnegie Trust.
Marc, who was a pupil at St Bride’s High School, East Kilbride before joining Strathclyde, will have his postgraduate stipend, fees, and travel expenses funded as part of the three-year scholarship, one of only 14 awarded annually to graduates of UK universities across all academic disciplines.
He will be staying on at Strathclyde to take his PhD, in which he will investigate new catalysts for the preparation of organic molecules, particularly those related to compounds with potential for being used in emerging medicines.
The programme will also apply the catalysts in research processes of major relevance to the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, and fine chemicals industries.
Marc said: “I’m really excited to be working on this project and pleased to have won the scholarship. I’ve done some initial work in this area as part of my Masters course and this PhD will build upon it- I’m looking forward to getting started.
“The catalysts we’re developing will allow us to track molecules as they move around the body, in the same way that whales or sharks are tagged to follow their progress around an ocean. This will allow the compounds to be tailored for use in a particular type of treatment or product.
“In collaboration with industrial partners we would be using the catalysts to understand better the molecules and how they work.”
Marc will be studying for his PhD in a research group led by Professor Willliam Kerr, in collaboration with Dr Tell Tuttle.
Professor Kerr, who proposed Marc’s application for the scholarship, said: “Scotland continues to produce some of the finest young academic talent with internationally-leading abilities. We are remarkably grateful to the Carnegie Trust for supporting and nurturing emerging scientific stars like Marc, who have the intellectual strengths to now drive a key component of our research forward.”
The award from the Carnegie Trust is worth a total of around £60,000.
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