Profile
Sylvia Soldatou
I try to find new medicines from the sea!
My CV
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Education:
University of Patras, Greece (2006-2010), University College London, UK (2011-2012), National University of Ireland, Galway (2012-2015), University of South Florida, USA (2015-2017)
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Qualifications:
BSc. in Chemistry, MSc. in Pharmacognosy (Therpeutic uses of natural products), PhD in Natural Products Chemistry
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Work History:
Family owned pharmacy and Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde
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Current Job:
Research Scientist, University of Aberdeen
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About Me:
I’m a Greek-Italian Natural Product Chemist currently living in Aberdeen
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I am half Greek-half Italian but I was mainly raised in Greece. Since June I’ve been living in Aberdeen and I am still trying to get used to the cold!
During my studies I’ve lived in London, Galway (Ireland) and Tampa (FL, USA) where I met some amazing people and every now and then we have long Skype session for cathing up.
I love exploring Scotland and almost every weekend I try to visit a new place. Last week I was in Loch Thom and I am planning a trip to Isle of Skye when it will get warmer. I am a member of the University of Aberdeen Choral Society and I get involved in many outreach events organised by the University of Aberdeen.
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I work at the Marine Biodiscover Centre at the University of Aberdeen. I am a Chemist but my daily work involves a lot of microbiology as I am working with marine bacteria and fungi that were collected from sediment samples from the deep-sea, below 2000m! I am also working with fungi isolated from marine sponges that we collected in the Red Sea and plants collected from Wadi El Natrun, a valley in Egypt. Antibiotic -resistance is a major threat, therefore I am looking for new molecules produced by these bacteria and fungi that can act as antibiotics. I am also interested in new marine compounds with interesting anti-cancer activity.
I am also our group’s lab manager. I make sure that our lab equipment is working properly and train other researchers to use them corerntly. Moreover, I work with undergraduate, master’s and PhD students helping them out in their daily lab work. I also do a bit of teaching which involves a series of lectures as part of a Master’s course and demonstrating 2nd year organic Chemistry lab practicals
My work also involves a lot of travelling for conferences and sample collection, so I have been very lucky vsiiting some exciting places!
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My Typical Day:
Every day is different from the previous and the next one, depending on where I am needed the most!
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I am based at the University so most of the days I walk to work unless is freezing, then I take the bus! I usually make a cup of tea when I arrive and catch up on emails before I go in the lab. Somedays I am tecahing or demonstrating lab pacticals so I don’t have time to work on my own projects. Other days, I have project students that need my help with analysing their data or setting up their experiments. On these days I focus on assisting the project students.
My own project can be done in either the chemistry or microbiology lab. When I work in the microbiology lab I have to make sure everything is super clean to avoid contaminations. The work involves the isolation of fungi and bacteria from marine samples collected from various locations around the world. I grow the bacteria and fungi on agar plates and when they are happy and fluffy I grow then on liters and liters of liquid broth to have enough material for the chemical work. In the chemistry lab, things are more challenging because you have to use a lot of different techniques and instrunments that require good knowldege and expreience but I have to admit that the chemistry lab work is the most fun!
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What I'd do with the prize money:
Create a 2-day event with fun chemistry experiments
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The most exciting thing that's happened this year in my research area:
Few years ago, I was given this amazing opportunity to be part of a research cruise in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. The word “cruise” is a bit misleading as it involved working in 12 h shifts but it was an amazing experience! We spent three weeks on the resercah vessel and we were continously collecting samples for our research, such as sponges and corals. There was no internet, no TV, no communication with the world but it was beautiful! I saw a lot of dolphins and whales as well as beautiful sunsets and sunrises!
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My latest work:
One of my recet projects involved the discovery of new molecules with antibiotic activity from fungi. We isolated those fungi from marine sponges that we collected in the Red Sea and from plants collected in Wadi El Natrun, a valley in Egypt. The idea behind that project was to use the isolated antibiotic molecules for textile functionalisation, tyring in that way to mimic the ancient Egyptians who were using local plants and herbs known for their anitbacterial properies when preparing the textiles to wrap the mummies.
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My favourite misconception about my area of science:
When I mention to people that I am a marine natural products chemist, they immediately think that I spent most of my time in the sea, swimming with sharks and whales and snorkelling in colourful coral reefs. Although, I did spent some time SCUBA diving and on reserach cruises to collected sponges for my research, I never had the experience of swimming with a shark or whale. Also, I did most of my SCUBA dives in Ireland where the water was not above 4 degrees Celcius and the visibility most of the times was terrible! Still a lot of fun, but not as warm as diving in the Caribbean 🙂