Wednesday 13 March 2024

Beyond COVID-19: predictions for future pandemics

On the evening of Thursday 7 March 2024 RSC Belgium member and friends were treated to a hugely informative and entertaining talk entitled 'Beyond COVID-19: predictions for future pandemics' at the British School of Brussels in Tervuren from Professor Marc Van Ranst, Professor of Virology at KULeuven and the Rega Institute for Medical Research. Marc was a very prominent figure in the Belgian media during the COVID-19 pandemic.


In 2007, Marc (pictured above with RSC Belgium chair Bob Crichton) had been appointed as Interministerial commissioner by the Belgian federal government to prepare Belgium for an influenza pandemic and in 2009 he was an interministerial commissary for crisis management during the Mexican flu pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Marc was a member of both the Belgian 'Risk Assessment Group' (RAG), which analysed the risks of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 for public health, and of the 'Scientific committee Coronavirus' which advised Belgian health authorities on combatting the virus and which made - and continues to make - prognoses on its evolution and spread in Belgium.

The emergence of future pandemics is an important concern, given the unpredictability observed in past outbreaks. While pandemics are rare events, several quasi-certitudes can guide our predictions Marc said. There is a high likelihood that the next pandemic may originate in Asia, particularly in densely populated urban centres. The role of air travel in facilitating the rapid spread of infectious diseases cannot be underestimated. Furthermore, zoonotic transmission, where diseases jump from animals to humans, remains a significant risk factor for future pandemics. The likelihood that a next pandemic will be caused by a rapidly mutating RNA virus is also very high.

The mode of transmission through respiratory droplets will be a key factor to consider when preparing for and responding to future global health crises.

By exploring these predictions and understanding the commonalities among past pandemics, Marc was able to show how we can be better equipped to mitigate risks, enhance preparedness strategies, and safeguard global health security in the face of future infectious disease threats.

Marc indicated that the actual global death toll from the COVID pandemic was of the order of  22 million compared to the official recorded global toll of 6.5 million. He also showed, via data on COVID in wastewater, that the virus was very much still with us during winter 2023-24, with current variants being highly transmissible but not causing such serious infection in terms of admissions to intensive care and mortality. 

The development and deployment of effective vaccines had been key to limiting serious infections and death: the difference in mortality between states in the US which encouraged and enabled vaccination and those that were less enthusiastic was clear. 

Marc also described his personal experiences in the face of antivax campaigners - a most disturbing situation that brought threats of physical violence against him and his family quite literally to his doorstep and at one point required his family to go into close police protection.  

Marc's conclusion was also just as disturbing - that we are not ready for the next, inevitable, pandemic. 

Marc's presentation can be viewed below.






Thursday 22 February 2024

Ninth Norman Lloyd Scholar reports in!

Benjamin Condon (pictured below), the ninth recipient of a Dr Norman C. Lloyd Scholarship at Cardiff University has completed the first year of his MCheM degree in Chemistry at the university and he has submitted an end of year report. The Norman Lloyd Scholarship is given to a new student in the Cardiff School of Chemistry who is of high academic standing and resident in Wales. The tenth recipient of the Scholarship at Cardiff has also just been announced.

What degree are you undertaking and why did you choose the course here?

I am currently undertaking an undergraduate degree in chemistry. I chose the course as a pathway towards studying postgraduate medicine.

What is the best thing about studying at Cardiff and how have you found your experience so far?

The best thing about studying at Cardiff University is its vibrant academic community, fostering both intellectual growth and personal development. So far, I have had various practical learning opportunities and a supportive network of staff and peers to assist me in my journey. From internships to student societies, Cardiff has offered me a diverse range of experiences that that are preparing me for academic success.

What are your plans after you graduate?

Currently I am still aiming towards a career as a cardiothoracic surgeon.

What have you enjoyed most and what have you found most challenging?

I have found the academic content most challenging. Specifically organic chemistry which requires highly logical thinking. However, it has been extremely gratifying to apply the theoretical knowledge I learn in practical laboratory settings.

What do you do in your spare time/alongside your degree?

I am studying financial investing alongside my degree.

What difference has this scholarship made to you? Has it enabled you to achieve anything that you would not have been able to before?

The Dr Norman Lloyd Scholarship has been massively beneficial in supporting my university journey. It has eased financial burdens, allowing me to focus on my studies. It has enabled me to give up a part-time job, which I was working for a whole semester, which allowed me far more time to revise. I directly attribute some of my success in the first year to this scholarship and the support it has given me.

If you could say something to the donor who gave you this gift, what would it be?

I am so very grateful. Your generosity has lightened my financial load and empowered me to pursue my academic goals with focus and determination. Thank you for your commitment to helping students like me succeed.

We wish Benjamin every success for the future!

The scholarship

The Norman Lloyd scholarship was set up by RSC Belgium in collaboration with Norman’s family and Cardiff University in memory of our old friend and supporter Norman Lloyd. Norman was himself a student at an institution that is now part of the university. The funds raised provide an annual scholarship of £1,000 for an undergraduate student, usually in their first year of study, at the Cardiff School of Chemistry.

The Tenth Norman Lloyd Scholar is announced!

Zarah Ahmed (pictured below) is the latest recipient of the Dr. Norman Lloyd RSC Belgium scholarship at Cardiff University. Zarah is in her first year at Cardiff on a MCheM degree course. The Norman Lloyd Scholarship is given to a new student in the Cardiff School of Chemistry who is of high academic standing and resident in Wales.

Zarah wrote to the section following her award:

“Prior to starting at Cardiff University, I did a lot of research in the different career paths a degree in Chemistry could give me. I was amazed to discover the range of industries that Chemistry can take a key role in. For example, I am particularly enjoying my year 1 optional module in environmental chemistry at the moment. I am also quite interested in forensics and toxicology which is what sparked my interest in chemistry and analytics in the first place. I was going to pursue a degree in this however, through experiences like the Seren Award and other wider reading, I came to the conclusion that I would like to keep my options open for the future and that Chemistry would be the most versatile course for this.

As an MChem student, I have the opportunity to go abroad or do a year in industry in my third year. I’m hoping this will help narrow down my interests and ideas for my fourth and final year where I will complete my Masters. I would like to thank the RSC for awarding me the Dr Norman Lloyd Scholarship which I am hoping to put towards resources like textbooks, my third year, as well as any other opportunities like summer programmes/internships. I am so grateful for your support and the opportunities that this scholarship will provide.”

We wish Zarah every success during her studies at Cardiff!  

The scholarship

The Norman Lloyd scholarship was set up by RSC Belgium in collaboration with Norman’s family and Cardiff University in memory of our old friend and supporter Norman Lloyd. Norman was himself a student at an institution that is now part of the university. The funds raised provide an annual scholarship of £1,000 for an undergraduate student, usually in their first year of study, at the Cardiff School of Chemistry.


Tuesday 30 January 2024

2024 RSC Belgium AGM and Dinner

The 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Annual Dinner of the RSC Belgium International section took place on the evening of Friday 19 January 2024 at the Les Amis Dinent restaurant in Wezembeek-Oppem. 

The AGM commenced at 19h35 with eleven section members present. In addition nine section members who were unable to attend the AGM sent their apologies and had asked the Chair to act as their proxy at the meeting.

The meeting first approved the minutes of the 2023 AGM that took place on 20 January 2023. No corrections were suggested, and the meeting moved (Julie Tuppeny), seconded (Rita Woodward) and unanimously adopted.

2023 activities

The section secretary, Tim Reynolds, then presented the 2023 report on teh section's activities.

“During 2023 RSC Belgium organised a Café Chimique event and six public lectures that were all face-to-face events with most recorded and then posted on our @RoySocChemBelgium YouTube channel. In addition, we held our 2023 AGM, a summer social trip to Ghent, our two annual school outreach events: the Chemistry Challenge and the Top of the Bench ‘Eliminator’, which was an in-person event again, plus four schools’ chemistry workshops with John O’Donoghue from Trinity College Dublin. Our ninth Norman Lloyd scholarship recipient enjoyed his first year at Cardiff University and we hope to hear the name of the tenth recipient very soon.

Our 2023 AGM and Annual Dinner was held on the evening of Friday 20 January at Les Amis Dinent restaurant in Wezembeek-Oppem. At the AGM Bob Crichton was re-elected as Chair, Tim Reynolds was re-elected as Secretary and Fabio Lucaccioni was elected as Treasurer. Three members were elected to the committee: Rita Woodward, Susan Schamp, and Julie Tuppeny. All positions are for a two-year term. Two committee members are in mid-term: Dr David Terrell and Dr Dharmjeet Madhav.

During the year, your section committee met just three times on 17 January (hybrid), 27 June (hybrid), and 5 September (hybrid) with one meeting scheduled for 14 November postponed.

Our 2023 programme kicked off on 9 February with a Café Chimique event at BSB on the topic of Sustainable Transport. This was followed on 23 March with a talk on sustainable e-fuels from Damien Debecker of UCLouvain.

Professor Ari Koskinen described new horizons in synthesis on the evening of 20 April and on 22 May Professor David Dexter, Director of Research at Parkinson’s UK, talked to us about ‘Therapeutic strategies for preventing Parkinson's Disease’.

Activities resumed on 9 September with a wonderful walking tour in late summer sunshine around Ghent led by Dr Paul Snell and including a (re)visit to our RSC Chemical Landmark for Kekule at the University.

September also saw a visit to Belgium by Dr John O’Donoghue of Trinity College Dublin and colleagues  Dr Fiona McArdle of the Atlantic Technological University Sligo and Dr Natalia Garcia Domenech from TCD. John gave us an updated talk on ‘Chemistry in the Movies’ on 28 September and he and the team also conducted four Current Chemistry Investigators schools’ workshops (two at BSB and two at St. Johns) on electrochemistry and electroanalytical concepts. This was the first time these workshops had been given outside Ireland and were a remarkable success. The idea of a workshop tour with John had been in the RSC Belgium planning for a few years now, but various interruptions - not least the COVID pandemic - had got in the way.

John’s Chemistry in the Movies talk was also the prize-giving ceremony for our 2023 Chemistry Challenge initiative undertaken over the early summer with the students working remotely at their schools. For the 2023 Challenge, seven schools took part (four European Schools and three International Schools) with a total of 74 students participating.

Our lecture programme continued with a talk from Prof Kevin Lam of the University of Greenwich on 12 October on Chemistry with Potential and concluded with a presentation on Hydrogen as an Energy Vector by Alexandra Kostereva of the European Gas Research Group on 22 November.

On Saturday 18 November we held our 2023 Top of the Bench (TOTB) regional heat at BSB. This year six teams from three different schools (BSB, ISF and St Johns) participated and after a very tight contest team Baekeland from BSB were declared winners and will represent Belgium at the UK National finals on 16 March 2024. Team Sodium our 2022 winners, also from BSB, had represented Belgium section at the London finals in March 2023.

Thanks as ever to Rita and Susan for developing the content for our educational activities and all the teachers and students who participated.

During the year, our ninth recipient of a Norman Lloyd scholarship at Cardiff University, Benjamin Condon , worked hard. The 2023-2024 academic year sees the tenth recipient of the award – whose name we hope to announce soon – and we also hope to organise a celebration of this milestone during 2024.

Youtube 

As mentioned earlier we now have a YouTube channel where you can find our videoed webinars. Some of our @RoySocChemBelgium ‘content’ is proving to be very popular. Our Top Three videos (as of noon yesterday - 18 January 2024) are at #3 Philip Ball with 1,181 views, second spot goes to Plasma-based CO2 conversion with 5,705 views, while Nick Lane remains top of the pops with a remarkable 19,891 views.

On a sad note, I’d like to mark the passing of one of our most enthusiastic and active supporter of the section’s activities Brian Sutcliffe. We will miss him and hope to mark his passing with an appropriate event during 2024.

We aim to run a full programme of events during 2024 and look forward to seeing many members and friends during the year. Details of forthcoming events can always be found on the RSC Belgium blog.”

There were no questions on the report, and the meeting moved (David Terrell), seconded (Andrew Dunn) and unanimously approved its adoption.

Finances

The section treasurer, Fabio Lucaccioni, presented the 2023 financial report and accounts.

The 2023 balance sheet is presented by listing revenues and payments allocated to a series of categories pre-assigned by the RSC.

The overall balance at the end of 2023 on the current account is €5,799.05 and the global expenses (receipts minus payments) were -€5,915.49. The saving account overall balance is  €4,503,27.

During the year, the total income amounted to 3,941.06, mainly from a grant from RSC headquarters (2,999.60) but also from the AGM and the annual dinner, as well as fees relating to the visit to Ghent in August.

Expenses for the year amount to 9,856.55 €. The main expenses concern: the six lectures and the “Café Chimique” organised during the year (3,897.47), with a total audience of 177 people; our annual Top of the Bench and Chemistry Challenge activities and also in 2023 some Chemistry Workshops for an amount of 677.70 (involving 160 students); social events, which are the AGM and its dinner as well as the visit to Ghent (2,130.45); and a transfer of money to the savings account (2,400.00).

This year, and following an email from headquarter dated January 11, 2024, we do not need to have our accounts audited as our entries are less than £10,000.”

The meeting unanimously adopted the Treasurer’s report.

 Chair’s Remarks (Bob Crichton)

The section chair, Bob Crichton, thanked all members of the committee for their continuing hard work and support and looked forward to continuing success in the new year.

During the Annual Dinner the Chair presented Rita and Peter Woodward with some tokens of the committee’s appreciation for their efforts in providing refreshments for our evening talks over many years.

Elections

Two nominations for committee members had been received: Dr David Terrell and Prof Ari Koskinen. Committee membership is for a two-year term. As the number of nominations equalled the number of vacant positions, both candidates were duly elected.

Other current committee members in mid-term are Bob Crichton (Chair), Tim Reynolds (Secretary), Fabio Lucaccioni (Treasurer), Rita Woodward, Julie Tuppeny and Susan Schamp.

The committee thanked Dharmjeet Madhav for his contribution to the committee over the last two years.

At the first committee meeting of 2024 Bo Dahlqvist and Jonathan Norris will also be co-opted onto the committee.

The meeting adjourned at 19h52. The first meeting of the new 2024 committee will be arranged soon.

A copy of the draft minutes of the 2024 AGM can be downloaded here. These minutes will be submitted to the 2025 AGM for approval.

Wednesday 3 January 2024

BSB win RSC Belgium's TOTB 2023

On Saturday 18 November, the 2023 RSC Belgium Top of the Bench (TOTB) regional heat was held at the British School of Brussels (BSB). Teams from BSB, the International School of Flanders (ISF) and St. Johns International School (St Johns) participated in the competition to represent Belgium at the UK final.

The TOTB heat 'kicked off' at 13h30. This year the contest was in three parts and was devised by RSC committee members Susan Schamp and Rita Woodward. The initial task was a group challenge involving a 30-minute written Chemistry Quiz involving creative thinking exercises. All group members worked together on this activity.

After a short break the main group practical activity took place. This was a 90-minute hands-on Chemistry Investigation.

Finally, after a longer break with some refreshments, the individual team members undertook a further 30-minute, multiple choice, age-appropriate written Chemistry Quiz. Each four-person TOTB team consists of two students from Year 9 (Grade 8), one student from Year 10 (Grade 9) and one student from Year 11 (Grade 10). The Year 9 students completed one quiz and the Year 10 and 11 students completed a second quiz.

Joining Rita and Susan in observing and judging the event were Olivier Schamp and RSC Belgium Chair Bob Crichton with section secretary, Tim Reynolds, also there to take the photos. Also present throughout the day were RSC committee member and Head of Chemistry at BSB, Jonathan Norris, RSC committee member and Head of Chemistry at St. Johns, Julie Tuppeny, and chemistry teacher Beatriz Rocha from ISF.

A close result

The competition was extremely keen and it was a very tight contest. In terms of determining the final winner of the event, the weightings for the three components were: Group Challenge – 20%, Practical Activity – 50%, and Multiple Choice – 30%.

After an extensive consultation by the judging panel, Team Baekeland from BSB were declared the winners and received the coveted Keith Price Cup (see below - the team are pictured with, from left to right, Rita Woodward, Susan Schamp, Bob Crichton and Olivier Schamp).

The Baekeland team will now represent the Belgium section at the UK National finals of TOTB that will be held on Saturday 16 March 2024 at Edinburgh Napier University. We wish them the best!

Our thanks as ever to Susan and Rita for developing the written and practical tasks for our Top of the Bench event and all the teams for their enthusiasm and hard work. Congratulations to the winners and everyone who took part.

Chemistry with Potential

On the evening of Thursday 12 October RSC Belgium welcomed Prof. Kevin Lam from The University of Greenwich back to Belgium to give a talk entitled: ‘Electrifying the Pharmaceutical Industry without the BANG! When Your Chemistry has got Potential’. Professor Lam was awarded his PhD at the Universite Catholique de Louvain under the supervision of our old friend Istvan Marko and explored the use of electrochemistry and photochemistry as green alternatives to activate organic molecules. This work resulted in the development of a new radical-based deoxygenation reaction (the Lam-Marko reaction).

Synthetic organic electrochemistry has its roots in the classic work of Faraday and Kolbe on the electrolysis of aliphatic carboxylic acids. Although numerous transformations have been developed since then, many of which have been successfully applied in various industrial processes, the potential of preparative organic electrochemistry remains underestimated. However, the growing impetus to find greener and more cost-effective alternatives to traditional synthetic methods has recently led to the development of novel electrosynthetic methods.

In his talk Kevin presented new, safe, green, affordable and efficient ways to generate highly reactive organic intermediates such as iso(thio)cyanates, isocyanides, orthoesters or even diazo compounds. He also discussed the scale-up of these processes using flow electrosynthesis to demonstrate their real-world application in the pharmaceutical industry by reviewing case studies carried out with pharma giants including GSK, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

The venue for this event was the Brel Theatre at the British School of Brussels (BSB) in Tervuren.

Youtube video

Kevin's talk was recorded and can be found on our dedicated Youtube channel or as an embedded video below. Enjoy!

Video to be added when available!

Hydrogen as an Energy Vector

On the evening of Wednesday 22 November 2024 the section welcomed Alexandra Kostereva from the European Gas Research Group (GERG) to talk to us about the use of ‘Hydrogen as an Energy Vector'. As usual the talk was hosted by the British School of Brussels in Tervuren.

Alexandra is Operations Manager at GERG based in Brussels and her talk introduced the relevance of hydrogen as an energy vector, and present a major project that GERG and partners have finalised this year: THyGA (Testing Hydrogen admixture for Gas Applications​). This project looked at the impact of hydrogen/ natural gas blends on commercial and domestic appliances. It included a large testing programme with end-use appliances, and provided conclusions for future regulation and standardisation of this sector. Alexandra also outlined other aspects of the work of the European Gas Research Group in the energy sector.

Biography

Alexandra joined the European Gas Research Group (GERG) team in 2019 and has been actively involved in the full portfolio of its research activities including work on hydrogen, LNG, biomethane, and methane emissions topics. She has worked on several European-funded projects. In 2020, Alexandra completed a Blue Book internship at the European Commission’s DG Energy working on the European Methane Emissions Strategy.

Alexandra has a Master’s degree in Engineering from the French Grande Ecole Centrale Lille, with a specialisation in Energy, and a Master’s degree in Economics of Energy from Université Paris-Saclay.

YouTube Video

Alexandra's talk was recorded and can be found on our dedicated Youtube channel or as an embedded video below. Enjoy!