Harriet Fenton

"I am a scientist, but more specifically an organic chemist with laboratory robotics experience. I believe the ‘coach’ and ‘developer’ types match me very well as someone who enjoys working with people and using creativity to solve problems. I am also naturally very inquisitive and love learning new things."

"I am a high-throughput organic chemist working in research and development at Pfizer. My job involves running hundreds of tiny chemical reactions at the same time to find the one reaction that gives the most product. Each reaction will be slightly different to the rest whether that be by changing the temperature, catalyst, solvent or reagent. As you could probably imagine it would be very hard to set up this many reactions with just one pair of hands, so I use the robots in our lab to help run the chemical reactions for me. In fact, a large part of my job involves training and programming the robots too."

"The sciences were always my favourite subjects growing up so I knew my A-Levels would be centred around them. In the end I studied Chemistry, Biology and Maths for A-Level. I then chose to study Chemistry at Durham University where I obtained an integrated master’s degree. This is a four-year degree where you spend the final year working independently on a research project. This can be done externally at a company like Pfizer, for example, as a great way to obtain industrial experience. Alternatively, you can complete your final year project in university labs like me. After graduating from university, I worked as a Formulation Chemist in the paints and coatings industry, before realising that my dream job would combine helping people and Chemistry. I discovered that a career in pharmaceuticals would allow me to apply my love for science to make medicine that improves the quality of people’s lives and that is the reason why I applied for my current job at Pfizer."

"Although chemistry is a huge interest of mine, I also love to create in my free time. I attend weekly pottery classes where I sculpt insects and animals and I am currently learning how to throw pots on the wheel. I also enjoy meeting up with my friends for a walk along the coast which often ends with a tasty meal out. I have recently taken up stand-up paddle boarding too!"

"My typical day starts with designing the next set of chemical reactions that I am going to carry out in the lab. To do this I read scientific papers and collaborate with my co-workers to decide what conditions such as solvent and reagent I should experiment with. Once I have this planned, I then head into the lab to start programming the robots to dispense all the chemicals needed to run the reactions. My reactions are then heated, stirred and sampled by the robots which have pipettes that automatically take samples of the reaction mixtures during the experiment. I next analyse these samples using an instrument called a HPLC which allows me to determine how much product each reaction has generated. I then pull all these results together in the form of a report where I present my findings and propose theories as to why some reactions have worked better than others. I share this data with other Chemists who then run my successful reactions on a larger scale to better mimic how the reaction will proceed when it is being run in a huge vessel on a manufacturing plant."

"I have three A-Levels in Chemistry, Biology and Maths and an AS-Level in Physics. I also have an integrated master’s degree in Chemistry. "