Chemistry and Chemical Reactivity 9th Edition Chapter 1

Research in the Digital Chemistry group is motivated by the fascination for complex chemical systems, and the desire to construct complex functional molecular architectures that are not based on biologically derived building blocks.

November 2021: Prof Cronin Featured in Discover Magazine

An online article has been published by Discover Magazine, showcasing the work of Prof Cronin and his research group. The article delves into Prof Cronin's personal history, as well as discussing his current passion for automating chemistry and using his Chemputer technology to discover the origins of life and intelligence.

The article can be viewed on the Discover Magazine website.

October 2021: Dr Nicola Bell Selected for Crucible Leadership Development Programme

Dr Nicola Bell (Senior Researcher in the group) has been selected for the prestigious Crucible Leadership Development Programme. The annual event is designed to support Early Career Researchers in taking the next step in their careers by helping to develop meaningful collaborations, increase ambitions and boldness of funding applications. Nicola was selected from a pool of talented researchers from across the university and will attend events focused on collaboration, research communication and research creativity. …

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October 2021: Chemistry World: Exploiting evolution to explore chemical space shows promise for drug discovery

A Chemistry World article has been published describing recent Cronin Group work on the development of Assembly Theory, and it's applications in predicting how products will evolve in chemical reactions. This work could lead to the development of new drugs through intelligently exploring chemical space by combining the assembly spaces of known molecules.

The full article can be viewed on the Chemistry World website.

September 2021: Joint US-UK Solution wins NIH NCATS Prize

Prof Cronin's team, alongside collaborators including Prof Walker from Arizona State University, have won an NIH NCATS ASPIRE Reduction-to-Practice Challenge prize, which is awarded to projects that offer solutions for the current opioid crisis. The prize was awarded for their work on the Closed Loop Bio Assay-Chemputer for Next Generation Analgesics (BioChemputer). This is the second such prize that Profs Cronin and Walker have been awarded, following the award of an NIH integrated challenge prize in 2019.

Information on the prize and winners can be found on the NCATS website.

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August 2021: Cronin Group researchers feature in NASA short video on Universal Life Detection

Cronin Group researchers have appeared in a short video produced by NASA, describing their work on Assembly Theory and Universal Life Detection. In the video, Prof Cronin and other researchers working on the project describe how recent work in establishing an Assembly Index for molecular complexity, and detecting it experimentally using Mass Spectrometry, could be used to construct a universal life detector, which could detect the presence of biological molecules even if they are completely unlike those on Earth.

The video can be seen on YouTube, or on the NASA website.

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July 2021: Lee Cronin appears on the Armen Show podcast

Lee Cronin has appeared on The Armen Show podcast, which is described as "Science, Technology, and Discussion for the Lifelong Learner". In the episode, Prof Cronin. discusses topics ranging from Chemical Evolution and information to philosophy and social media.

The full episode can be viewed on YouTube

June 2021: Dr. Hessam Mehr Awarded Prestigious Leverhulme Fellowship

Congratulations to Cronin Group member Dr. Hessam Mehr on receiving a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship, set to start in the School of Chemistry in May 2022. In his fellowship, entitled "Investigating the dark reactions present in chemical space", Dr. Mehr will use probabilistic reasoning to understand the outcome of thousands of stochastic reactivity events. The aim is to infer the presence of dark chemical reactions: missing pieces in the reactivity puzzle that are necessary to explain the formation of unexpected new molecules.

May 2021: Complex molecules hold the secret to finding aliens

In a new paper published in Nature Communications, titled "Identifying molecules as biosignatures with assembly theory and mass spectrometry", Cronin Group researchers describe Assembly Theory, a new way of quantifying molecular complexity, which can be used to determine if a molecule required a biological system to create it. The complexity of molecules was also measured experimentally through mass spectrometry fragmentation, opening the door for the creation of a life detection machine. Since Assembly Theory relies on molecular complexity alone, the life detection process is …

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May 2021: Lee Cronin Gives SCI Talk on "The Robotic Alchemist"

Prof Cronin has given an online talk to the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI), in which he describes his group's work in developing a chemical programming unit (ChemPU), for use in intelligent robotic systems searching for new reactivity, reactions and molecules.

The talk can be viewed in full on YouTube

April 2021: Lee Cronin Participates in Late-Night Conference

Prof Cronin has features in "Late Night Conference with Wilhelm Huck", described as a "a series of livestreamed themed lectures and interactive discussions for students of science and those with an interest in science in general". In the talk and interview, streamed on 1st April, Prof Cronin discussed his work on inorganic life, alien and artificial lifeforms, and chemical computers.

The full talk/interview can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msq06I_G2TA

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March 2021: Lee Cronin Features on ChemConvos Podcast

Lee Cronin has featured on the ChemConvos podcast, a podcast dedicated to "finding the story behind the scientist". In the episode, hosts Medina Afandiyeva and Cronin Group member Henry Powell-Davies, chatted with Prof Cronin about everything from his research work into automating chemistry and the search for artificial life, to what it's like managing a large group during a pandemic, and giving advice for new PIs on how to be successful.

The podcast can be found at https://anchor.fm/chemconvospod, or through other podcast outlets.

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February 2021: Lee Cronin Features on 'Evolution Soup' podcast

Lee Cronin has featured on the 'Evolution Soup' podcast, in which he discussed how evolution came before biology, and how evolution powers everything.

The full episode can be viewed on YouTube at https://youtu.be/gPeajFeQgyc

Chemistry and Chemical Reactivity 9th Edition Chapter 1

Source: http://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/cronin/

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