Meet the Students

John Watt - MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the year, 2009

Matthias Meyer - a physics PhD student with a growing portfolio of scientific art

Peter Ferguson - who is investigating the medical uses of magnetic nanoparticles in biological systems for his PhD

Anna Win-Mason - a chemistry PhD student making new carbohydrate-based molecules for the treatment of disease

John Watt

John Watt, a PhD student working with Dr Richard Tilley in School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, won the MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year and the Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize for 2009.

“The prizes have given me great exposure and I look forward to staying on in New Zealand to continue my work” John says.

The Young Scientist competition is run annually and is open to postgraduates undertaking research and involves candidates presenting their work to various audiences, including a high school audience and a panel of five judges. There were 120 entries in 2009.

“My research is focussed on the size and shape control of nanoparticles - we make them in solution using chemical techniques. On the nanoscale, the shape of the particle becomes really important in determining the properties of the material. With silicon for example, just by changing their shape, nanoparticles change from bright blue to bright yellow – right across the colour spectrum.”

John was born and educated in Napier and studied at Massey University before working in Melbourne for two years. He was drawn back to Wellington for the lifestyle and by an interest in Richard Tilley’s nanotechnology research.  

 “Dr Tilley has been brilliant and a true mentor in terms of what I’ve learned not only about nanoparticle research but also about the ‘business of science’ and how to develop a career in science. I was very pleased to see him recognised with the Easterfield Medal this year too.”

“The School of Chemical and Physical Sciences is very strong. There's some world leading work being done here by some top researchers. The research environment is very supportive and we've got excellent instrumentation available. We're definitely leading the way in solution phase synthesis of nano-particles globally.”

“There are a lot of commercial applications for our research. I'm working on palladium, which is used in car catalytic converters, so my work is directly applicable to that industry. Nanoparticles are also being developed for use as MRI contrast agents and attached to paint particles and used as solar cells for houses. The applications for nanoparticles are immense.”

For more information visit:

Nanoparticle and Quantum Dot Research Group
MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year Awards Newsletter, October 2009

Matthias Meyer

Matthias Meyer creates scientific art on his computer. Not just pretty pictures, but images that convey the science he is involved in. For example, in this picture, a green laser irradiates a molecule set in a metallic colloid base, shown as the rock-like spheres. This light causes the molecule to shine brightly and emit light of a different colour (shown in red), which can then be analysed to find out about the properties of the molecule. This technique is known as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), which is central to his work as a PhD student in the Raman Lab at Victoria University.

The journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (PCCP) approached Prof Etchegoin’s group in 2007 to submit a cover image to accompany one of their articles. Matthias offered to come up with something and after a brainstorm with the team, produced an image which PCCP chose to put on the cover. He has since had four more cover images published, two of which were commissioned by other research groups, and also designed the cover of a new book on SERS, written by Victoria University scientists. 

Matthias grew up in East Germany and was 11 when the wall came down. He began drawing as a child and made his first comics when he was about seven years old – which he now describes in less than complimentary terms. He was quick to make use of computers in his art and tells of spending a lump sum he received as a child to buy a co-processor to run 3D calculations for his image programme.

He studied science in Berlin but after 26 years was desperate to get away – as far away as possible. He contemplated Australia, but discovered New Zealand was even further from Germany! Stumbling across Prof. Pablo Etchegoin’s group through the MacDiarmid Institute’s website, Matthias made contact and was offered a position as a PhD student. He enjoys the small size of the group and appreciates Pablo’s approachable style and hands-on attitude to lab work. He is full of praise for New Zealand and the group saying “everything is perfect and I have no regrets – coming here was the best thing I did in 26 years”.

Find out more about Matthias' work here.

Peter Ferguson

It’s clear that Peter Ferguson doesn’t come from a traditional science background. He’s clean-cut and a snappy dresser, wearing tailored clothes and fashionably pointed shoes to work. Peter is a qualified doctor and is currently doing a PhD with Dr Richard Tilley’s nanoparticles research group. He studied at Otago University’s Dunedin School of Medicine and had been working for three years towards becoming a physician, when a talk at a “quantum dot meeting at the train station” caught his attention.

The talk, about silicon quantum dots, was given by Dr Tilley at the 1st annual Quantum Dot meeting, held at Victoria University’s rooms at the Wellington Railway Station in 2006. Peter was inspired to get involved with the exciting research he saw Dr Tilley doing – studying the various uses nanoparticles can have in biological systems. His offer of part-time research assistance grew to an MSc project and has since become a PhD; which Peter is now in the second year of.

The project brings together some diverse scientific expertise and Peter’s medical background is ideal for holding this strongly collaborative project together. The nanoparticles are made and characterised at the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences at Victoria University, using technologies such as NMR imaging and electron microscopy. The cell biology and in vivo trials follow, at the Malaghan Institute for Medical Research and funding is from Dr Tilley’s NERF grant, “Magnetic Nanoparticles”.

Peter delights in talking about the research he’s involved in, as if telling a patient about their diagnosis and upcoming treatment, and his enthusiasm for the cutting-edge project is infectious. He plans to return to a research-based medical career in pathology at the end of his PhD.

Peter is enjoying the way the project is about “chemistry, physics and biology, all in large doses”. I can’t help but smile at his medical terminology.

Find out more about quantum dots and Peter’s project here.

Anna Win-Mason

I asked Anna how she got started in chemistry. It seems to have begun with the mysterious arrival of a brochure about CHEM 191 (a bridging course at Victoria University) in the mail one day. She had just arrived home from six months in the USA as an exchange student and was wondering what to do next.

These kinds of fortuitous moments have marked Anna’s already fascinating career in chemistry. Of course she took the summer course, to round out her knowledge from school. She then carried on, preferring chemistry to psychology “because of the smaller classes and nice lecturers”. She finished with 1st class honours in 2001.

Embarking on a PhD was a big decision and she took a year out; synthesising inositol standards at Industrial Research Ltd (IRL), which confirmed her desire to make a career of chemistry. The motivation to “be like the guys out there”, with their knowledge and experience, saw her back at Victoria with a Genesis Oncology Trust postgraduate scholarship for PhD study.

The first year went well, but during the second, Anna’s supervisor moved overseas and she decided not to follow him to the US. In hindsight it was a good choice, since she later became seriously unwell, having to endure nine hours of brain surgery to remove a benign cyst, and a recovery that took nearly three years. The PhD was put on hold and eventually given away, after she decided it would be better to try something else.

But, chemistry came calling again! Anna took a part-time job at GlycoSyn (IRL) as a Logistics Assistant, in order to work with chemists, and a few months later a colleague persuaded her to try some bench chemistry one day a week. Her skills came back quickly and her confidence returned. Confidence enough to return to study; this time a Masters with the Immunoglycomics Research group, funded by an Enterprise Scholarship in conjunction with IRL. Funnily enough, six months in, she has decided to have another crack at that PhD and will simply extend her Masters research.

Anna is feeling positive, saying, “the chemistry is working and the group is great – it’s cool”. Anna got married last year and would like to post-doc overseas. As for hobbies, she loves gigs, movies and books, but I am left in no doubt when she says, “my main hobby is people’.

Find out more about Anna’s project here.

Stories written by Web Editor, Sarah Wilcox.