• Question: What interests youmost about the area of science you study?

    Asked by - to Arthur, Thomas on 15 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by alanna876.
    • Photo: Arthur Wilkinson

      Arthur Wilkinson answered on 15 Jun 2015:

      Polymer science and technology (in common with other branches of materials science) is a blend of chemistry, physics and engineering. I find this breadth means that I come across something new and interesting every day. This morning it was a discussion about new carbon fibres with my colleagues over a cup of tea.

    • Photo: Thomas Farrugia

      Thomas Farrugia answered on 22 Jun 2015:

      I think it’s the potential of creating new materials that can be both biological and chemical in nature – being able to modify proteins with polymers means you can build in some really cool properties that they don’t have or creating new structures – for example you can tie lots of proteins onto a long strand of polymer, and then have those proteins make more polymer around that that strand, effectively coating it. Or you could make proteins that are more likely to stick to cells, especially if they’re not normally meant to be there.

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