Question: what are you researching at the moment at work ?

Sebastian Cosgrove answered on 8 Mar 2019:

At the moment I am looking at ways that we can better get oxygen supply into water so enzymes that use it are not limited by the low supply. Oxygen, despite being really abundant in the atmosphere as a gas (18% of Earths atmosphere!) is not abundant at all in water (about 0.008%!). This is a problem when an enzyme depends on using oxygen, so it can really slow reactions down! I am using a new kind of flow chemistry reactor that can increase the oxygen concentration by up to 5 times! This is still a small amount, but it means that the reactions go a lot quicker! Through using this special reactor, I have been able to discover a new way to make a useful material from waste sugar from the dairy industry (lactose) that could maybe be used to make biodegradable plastics in the near future! It’s been a very exciting development!