Ann Widdecombe writes in the Guardian about the urgent need for reform to Section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, which is open for consultation at the moment as EU legislation is accounted for.

The current legislation makes any disclosure of the details of animal experiments a criminal offence. Whilst it should be made clear that the UK has some of the most stringent regulations surrounding the use of animals in research in the world, I agree that this blanket of secrecy is excessive and hampers public understanding of the need for the judicious use of animals in research. This has been recognised by some of the major funding bodies, research institutes and companies who have signed a Concordat on Openness on Animal Research to improve openness and increase scrutiny.

The government proposes instead to make malicious disclosure of people, places of intellectual property a criminal offence, meaning all other details can be disclosed and full details could be disclosed with the applicant's consent.

To me, this seems a sensible and proportionate response, that opens up this area to more scrutiny and informed debate whilst, crucially, protecting researchers and research institutions, if they so wish.

This is not enough for both Ann and animal rights organisations such as NAVS, who are calling instead for the complete repeal of this Act. This is because they believe in essence that all animal experiments are redundant, and indeed the NAVS website has many examples of cases where animal testing failed to detect an adverse reaction. I am confident that for very example they present, there are far more cases where animal testing has been extremely useful, both in driving our understanding of biology and pathology as well as detecting toxicity prior to human trials.

The fact is that nobody likes the idea of testing in animals. As NAVS correctly points out, the data from animal testing are often highly variable, difficult to interpret and hard to translate to humans. These difficulties of course explain why there is some much repetition of animal experiments – it is necessary to confirm observations. The cost of such experiments also contributes to a large proportion of the total cost of drug discovery (some $0.5-5 billion per drug launched, depending on which numbers you care to believe).

Given this cost, and the drive for efficiency savings that are plaguing the pharmaceutical companies, the question I would like answered by those in favour of abolishing animal testing completely is: If there are suitable, cheaper and more effective replacements for animal testing, why are pharmaceutical companies continuing to save money by sacking scientists instead of abandoning animal tests?

The answer is, of course, that there are yet NO SUITABLE REPLACEMENTS FOR ANIMAL TESTING that covers the diverse requirements of safety and efficacy required by the regulators of the pharmaceutical industry. These regulations are designed to protect clinical trial participants from undue risk and are of paramount concern. The fact that there has been a decrease in the number of procedures for toxiciology shows that we are taking steps in the right direction, but we are not even close to avoiding the need for any animal testing.

We must continue to reduce, replace and refine our use of animals, and update our regulation accordingly, if the abolition of animal testing in drug discovery is to become a reality. Until then, it it only right that researcher's rights to privacy are fully protected.

Usually, I am woken up by the unmistakable screeching of the seagull that lives on my roof, but last Monday morning I rose before him to give a talk to some students. The reason for my early start was not that this school was in some far corner of the Highlands and Islands, but rather to a school in Bucharest which was two hours ahead.

Now I've delivered presentations on medicinal chemistry to students of all ages (my toughest challenge yet was explaining drug discovery to six year olds! Seriously, try explaining medicinal chemistry without using the words synthetic, synthesis, synthesise or parameter!) and to classrooms of all sizes (300 students in Ballymeana, Northern Ireland is my record), so I was surprised to find I was nervous about this one.

I've only ever used Skype to deliver a presentation during an interview process in Switzerland. It must have gone well, because I got called for a face-to-face interview (but not the job in the end), but it was one of the most harrowing experiences of my life to date. This would be a level above that, because I was completely unsure as to what awaited me on the other end of the line.

I pride myself on delivering dynamic presentations, but these utilise a lot of body language, which was now rendered impossible. Additionally, I use jokes and colloquialisms, but would  they translate to a non-British audience? Come to think of it, what would the students level of English be and would they even be able to comprehend my Irish accent? Dropping a few jokes is easy, but six years in the UK has yet to rid me of my accent (thank God!).

Of course, setting up a Skype presentation takes two - and I have to give credit to the teacher, Mr. Thompson for going beyond the call of duty on this one. As an experienced outreacher (is that a word?), I'm pretty good for spotting the great teachers who will instantly reply to every email from the ones who will have you turn up at the school hoping someone will answer the door! Mr. Thompson was certainly in the former category.

As for the students, well I needn't have worried. After 20 minutes of waffle from yours truly, they proceeded to grill me for an hour on all aspects of the drug discovery process. Clearly inspired by "The Case of the Frozen Addicts" (a study they were working on in class), I was asked questions on purity and characterisation to toxicity and side effects. Some of the questions were clearly prepared in advance, and were really insightful. Others were more spontaneous, but by God did they hit on really critical points.

Led by the students we wandered far from the basics of drug discovery to discussions about innovation, the state of the patent system, the ethics of animal and human testing and even the future of the the industry itself. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed such excellent questions and hearty debate.

I'm delighted to have another feather in my cap and other experience and set of skills to apply in the future. I figure if I can hold a teenagers attention for an hour using NOTHING but my voice and facial expressions, then there's not much I can't do during a presentation! This experience ranks right up there with some of the aforementioned outreach highlights of my career to date.

I hope the opportunity to do something like this arises again, and I'd like to thank Mr. Thompson and his class for being such excellent guinea pigs (thankfully not for drug testing though, that would not be ethical!).

Just a quick note to highlight that the deadline for abstract submissions to the YMS is fast approaching (5th May).

YMS 2014 will be held in Birmingham on the 24th of June. It promises to bring together early-career chemists from all disciplines and sectors to share the latest research and develop interdisciplinary networks.

With a stellar line up of speakers covering all the major disciplines, as well as a session devoted to chemical education and outreach, YMS 2014 aims to be the biggest and best of the series to date, so I urge all early-career chemists out there to consider presenting and attending.

To register and for more information, visit www.rsc-yms.co.uk.

The SCI are hosting a FREE, open to all careers event in London on Monday 28 April 2014.

• starting out in academia and in industry
• working in both bioscience and chemical SMEs
• careers in multinational bioscience companies
• working on a plant and in health and safety
• working in the petrochemicals industry
• working as a consultant
• tips on applying for that first job

Definitely a date for early-career calendars!

Had a meeting the other day with the newly formed Outreach Working Group.

I got involved in an interesting debate over the merits of various forms of demonstration. I'm personally a big fan of the flash-bang shows. It's how I was attracted to chemistry in the first place, and it certainly has impact. I am concerned, however, that opportunities to learn and practice this craft are becoming harder to find, as health and safety legislation tightens.

The counter-point to this argument is that there are many low risk demonstrations that can be done that are deeply provocative and profound. Instead of promoting chemistry as a dangerous, explosive science, should we not instead focus on its deep, profound impact on the modern world and all that is around us?

It's a compelling point, but I remain unconvinced. Yes, we need to inspire and attract the "deep thinkers" to our science. But we also need to attract the "have a go heroes" who rush in where angels fear to tread. Without a balance of both, the chemists of tomorrow will suffer. And it is more time consuming and harder to acquire the skills and experience to conduct a good flash-bang show safely, then it is to perform low-risk demonstrations. As such, the danger remains that the high-risk experiments will slowly be lost to would be chemists of the future.

Just thought I'd say a quick congratulations to some of my colleagues in Dundee for their recent success in the fight against malaria. Serious piece of work by some serious scientists!

I moved to Dundee from Nottingham in May 2013 and was eager to continue my voluntary role as a STEMNet Ambassador.

My first opportunity to do so came just after the summer holidays finished, when I was asked to take part in a "Chemistry at Work" event for the RSC. The focus of this event is to have a more practical demonstration of the realities of my work. This proved to be quite a challenge, as I am a medicinal chemist and it is very difficult (if not impossible) to replicate my work in a safe and timely manner. Medicinal chemistry and drug design can take up to 15 years of hard toil and there was no way I could fit that into a 45 minute slot!!

Inspiration struck when I thought about the money involved in drug discovery. The average cost of getting a new drug all the way to market is in the billions of dollars. The majority of this money is actually not spent directly by us chemists at the bench, but rather when the compound is put into human trials. A medicinal chemist must be a billion dollars sure his/her compound will make it all the way! This requires the selection of a molecule that has the optimal balance of many different parameters, including biological activity, toxicity, solubility etc.

I presented the students with real molecules and data (taken from a case study of the discovery of Onglyza) and asked them to pick their clinical candidate, making sure they worked in teams to identify the best compound. All of the students succesfully identified either the actual drug, or the back-up compound that also was succesful in clinical trial. Teachers really appreciate a real-life example of problem solving and considering more than one piece of data at a time to make a decision. In the future I plan to have another similar problem to give to teachers as a homework assignment/further discussion.

I've attached the handout I used - please feel free to use it.

Many of the world's top media outlets, including The New York Times and The Economist, have reported on the issue of reproducibility in scientific research. It's an issue that's being tackled directly by Science Exchange, who have launched the Reproducibility Initiative - a collaboration with PLoS and others to publish validated results.  

There is now an an opportunity to get involved with the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology, which is independently replicating key results from 50 cancer biology studies. They're looking for volunteers to help extract the methodology, statistical information, and checklist adherence of the identified key experiments for each of the papers. This process will help us understand how current practices of publishing this information influences the ability to independently replicate experiments. 

This is a great opportunity for graduate students, postdocs, and industry professionals to get involved. Contributors will receive co-authorship on each individual replication report they help with (published in PLoS ONE's reproducibility collection) and the final report.

If you are interested or know other researchers who would be interested in helping with this process please share this information and view this document, which contains the specifics of what is involved. If you want to contribute please contact Tim Errington.

I am delighted to announce that the 3rd RSC Younger Members Symposium (organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry Younger Members Network) will be held at the University of Birmingham on the 24th of June 2014. I have been fortunate enough to have been involved in the organisation of all the YMS to date, and I must confess to be extremely excited about YMS2014.
 
This year’s organising committee is made up of young volunteers from across the UK and employed in a variety of industrial, academic and educational roles. We are working really hard to ensure YMS2014 is the biggest and best so far. We have space for up to 300 delegates and we’re really keen to have a full-house.
 
The RSC and the University of Birmingham have recognised the importance of this career-development event by providing our keynote speakers for the day: Prof. Lesley Yellowlees (President of the Royal Society of Chemistry) and Prof. Alice Roberts (Head of Public Engagement at the University of Birmingham).
 
YMS 2014 aims to facilitate the development of young chemists by providing them with the opportunity to:  

• Present at a national conference
• Interact with emerging talent from academia and industry
• Network specifically with their peers

There will be four parallel sessions held over the course of the day, covering all aspects of chemistry: Education & Outreach, Organic & Biochemistry, Physical & Analytical and Inorganic & Materials. Each session will have two invited speakers representing the cream of young talent from industry and academia. Invited speakers will showcase not only their excellent research, but also their career progression. There will also be several oral presentation opportunities and considerable poster space for each session.
 
We are confident that this symposium will build upon and surpass the achievements of the previous symposia, and bring the next-generation of talent from across the UK and internationally together for a day of science and networking. I would like to invite and encourage early-career chemists from all disciplines and backgrounds to register and submit abstracts for oral and poster presentation. Registration for this event includes complimentary Affliate membership of the RSC (if required).

In addition to the symposia already highlighted, here is a call for young chemists to participate in a joint RSC-Croatian Chemical Society symposium:

Are you a young researcher (postgraduate student, postdoctoral fellow or young academic (appointed since 2009)?

Are you working in the synthesis, biological activity or medicinal chemistry of Macrocycles?

Yes, then this is your chance to present your work at a major international symposium

The Royal Society of Chemistry, Biological and Medicinal Chemistry Sector and the Croatian Chemical Society are holding a joint meeting in Zagreb, Croatia on the 28^th and 29^th April 2014 on the topic of ‘ Macrocycles:   synthesis, medicinal chemistry and biological activity’.  The organising committee are currently looking for up to SIX young researchers to give a short (15 minute) oral presentation on their research at this symposium.  If you wish to be considered for one of these slots, please send a brief abstract (no more than one side of A4) to Andreja Simunic at andreja [dot] simunic [at] glpg [dot] com

For more information on this symposium please go to http://www.fidelta.eu/index.php/conferences/macrocycles/