Lot's Wife Edition 1 2016

SCIENCE
need to follow, in order to transform your starting
materials into your products. I really enjoy the idea
of taking something and manipulating or changing
it into something else (and hopefully something of
use!). If I wasn’t doing chemistry right now, I really
have no idea what else I would be doing!
So what areas of chemistry are you especially
interested in?
I have always liked organic chemistry the
most, because it just seems so magical. The idea
of changing matter feels to me like something that
shouldn’t be able to be done, and our ability to not
only do this, but also understand it, fascinates me! I
was actually at work today and saw my boss reading
over what I think was some different ways you could
use nucleophilic organolithium reagents. I had a
quick look over the reaction schemes, and I just said
to her: “How fucking cool is chemistry?”
My Honours project is focusing on making
small molecule mimics of peptides and proteins,
which we’ve isolated from the venom of a particular
marine cone snake. The reason we’re looking at this
specific type of molecule is because it can bind to
certain calcium channels and aid in the treatment of
neuropathic pain.
My job will be to design and refine the
synthesis of molecules that we think are of particular
importance and test their overall effectiveness as a
drug. If all goes well and we make a molecule with
a good IC 50
value (basically, how effective the drug
is), we are able to do a few more tests and have it
enter the clinical testing phase, which hopefully ends
up with our group getting some results published in
scientific journals!
We’ve noticed that you have a lovely head of hair.
How did your hair get like that?
[Laughs] When people ask me how I get my
hair like I do, I tell them I just go “like this” and
shake my head a little bit. Truth be told, there is a
step that I fail to mention. It has to be teased first
with a brush. I personally use the fabulous tangle
teaser, if you don’t own one, I recommend picking
one up. Once teased, it can be shaken around a little
to make it as big as possible. But this is just our little
secret, right?
We’re loving your outfit today! Could you tell us more
about your style?
Thank you! Honestly, what I’m wearing today
was literally just what I picked up off my floor... I love
patterns and colours, so I try to incorporate that into
what I wear. I guess it’s hard for me to say I have a
particular “style”, if I like something I’ll wear it. I like
the idea of being comfortable in your own skin, so if
an outfit makes me feel good, then I’ll wear it without
caring what anyone’s going to say about it.
What’s your favourite TV show?
I have to say my all-time favourite TV show is
The Simpsons. The show is ridiculous, and the fact
that the story can fail to progress for 10-15 minutes,
but every piece of dialogue is gold, shows that the
writers are no doubt at the top of their class.
Who’s your favourite character on the show?
Hands-down Hans (Ralph Melish) Moleman.
The show wouldn’t be the same without him. He is
a character that I identify strongly with, and every
scene he’s in is perfect.
Would you like to describe the character of Hans?
I’d probably describe Hans as a very
unlucky elderly man, whose problems with alcohol
have caused him to be confused about his age.
Although the majority of the time, as viewers, we
see Moleman’s many misfortunes, he still seems
to power through and be able to look at life on the
bright side, and that’s a lesson that I think is of great
importance.
Finally, could you give us your best chemistry joke?
I don’t really have any jokes or puns, but
rather an anecdote. I was hanging out with my mate
Argon a few weeks ago and I heard this really funny
chemistry joke earlier in the day. I told him, but he
didn’t react...
Check our full interview with Ricki
on lotswife.com.au
Lot’s Wife | 39