Profile
Lee Steinberg
Writing code and drinking coffee
My CV
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Education:
University of Southampton (PhD: 2016-Present), University of Oxford (MSc: 2015-2016), University of Bristol (MSci: 2011-2015), JFS School (2005-2011)
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Qualifications:
MSc Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, MSci Chemical Physics, A Levels (Chemistry, Physics, Maths), GCSEs
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Current Job:
PhD Researcher – University of Southampton – Thesis title: Topological and Statistical Modelling of Chemical Space
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About Me:
Computational chemist by day – Netflix watcher by night
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Originally in London, but down in Southampton for my PhD. When I’m not getting angry at computers, I like to cook, exercise, and socialise with my housemates.
I’m a big sports fan – I’ve been known to watch any sport thats on television, including ‘The Ryder Cup of Ten Pin Bowling’. I’m a season ticket holder at my hometown football club, meaning I spend lots of time sat on trains travelling to matches.
I also play video games – at one point I was in the Top 5 players against the FIFA 13 AI – I’ve lost my touch since then but I’m still not bad!
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How can we describe the intermolecular structure of water?
Water molecules really like other water molecules. In fact – water molecules like to point at each other, and form structures like this:
I create methods which try to understand how these structures move around – particularly when you introduce a drug. Does the structure become stronger? Do the water molecules dislike the drug molecule enough to just throw it out entirely? I then use computers to do machine learning. This helps us predict for a new drug molecule how it will influence the water structures.
How can we describe the motion of a single molecule?
Individual molecules are not static. Bonds like to stretch, bonds like to bend, and most importantly, bonds like to twist. We know that when a drug interacts with a target it likes to take up a particular shape. I use computers to generate thousands of different states of the molecule, like this:
Video shows different states of an ‘alanine dipeptide’ moleculeI then use computational techniques and maths to understand them! For the molecule seen above, we have been able to show that every state of bond twisting can be described as a point on a donut:
We can then relate points on this donut to shapes of the molecule, and use it to understand the preferred shape of a drug when interacting with a target.
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My Typical Day:
Fighting with a computer, drinking coffee, helping others
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I normally arrive into my office by 8:45. I like to start my day by checking to see whether or not any computer tasks I left running overnight have stopped working (normally they have!). The ones that have stopped working, I then have to assess why, and formulate a plan to fix them, before restarting them.
Next I put my headphones on, and try to read a scientific article. It is very important that scientists do this, as it helps them keep on track with what others have done, and is often a good way of coming up with new experiments to try. This process is normally interrupted by one of the students I am supervising, so I will try to help them with their problem.
My afternoons are often spent analysing the results of the successful computer tasks. My supervisor will come in during the day, so I try to have a new result to show, or an interesting problem to discuss.
I try to leave my office before 5:30, because it can take me a while to walk home. Because I am a computational scientist, I am able to continue my work at home, which gives me a flexibility that people who work in labs might not have. This is both a blessing and a curse – if something hasn’t worked, I can take 10 minutes at home to try to fix it. However, often I feel guilty if I’m not working there – it’s important to take time off to relax though!
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What I'd do with the prize money:
Develop my virtual chemistry lab
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Geeky, sporty, loud
What did you want to be after you left school?
I didn't know - and nobody would accept my answer of 'rich'.
Were you ever in trouble at school?
I always got in trouble for making jokes and chatting to my friends.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Wheatus
What's your favourite food?
Pizza
Tell us a joke.
Two fish are in a tank - one says to the other: How the hell do you drive this thing?!
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