Lamprou Lab Blog

As a Jordanian PhD student I have joined an international research group at the University of Strathclyde . A s I am passionate about traveling and culture I would like to bring closer one of the most beautiful parts of Jordan, Petra, which I strongly encourage you to visit. While going through these lines and pictures, you will know more about the beauty of this place .  The city of Petra , capital of the Nabataean Arabs, is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world and it is Located 240 km south of the capital Amman and 120 km north of the red sea town of Aqapa. Petra the world wonder is undoubtedly Jordan's most valuable treasure and greatest tourist attraction , and it is visited by tourists from all over the world. Petra was first established sometime around the 6th century BC, by the Nabataean Arabs, a nomadic tribe who settled in the area and laid the foundations of a commercial empire that extended into Syria and the city began to prosper as the cap...

This week marks the beginning of the ‘Engage with Strathclyde’ programme which consists of over 50 different events being held between the 5th and 8th of May. The events aim to highlight the innovative and collaborative approach maintained by the University of Strathclyde while also showcasing the fantastic research being carried out across all disciplines. Although the primary goal is to build and enhance relationships with organisations and industry, many events are also open for the public to enjoy as well. Last year’s events attracted over 2300 people to the university and its success was acknowledged upon achievement of the 2014 Times Higher Education Leadership and Management award for knowledge exchange / transfer initiative ( http://www.strath.ac.uk/press/newsreleases/headline_832840_en.html) . The fantastic rteception received last year only adds to the buzz and excitement surrounding this year’s activities.

Last October, I had the opportunity to join the Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) embedded within the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Continuous Manufacturing and Crystallisation ( CMAC ). As I am close to finishing my first year, I think it is a good idea to explain why it is really worth being four years PhD student in sunny Glasgow. When I joined, I didn’t have a clear idea about how DTC works, so I am going to introduce some of the differences between DTC program and a standard PhD.  *Best (funniest) Acronym of CMAC. Courtesy of Brucci Wareham     

Last October Ridade, a PhD visiting researcher from Purdue University (Indiana, USA), was working with us in CMAC at the University of Strathclyde as part of a recent collaboration network between both Universities. Ridade is currently working with a twin-screw granulator as the main processing equipment for her research, and he experience in this area introduced me to this new application. It was a great learning experience having someone from the other side of the world coming to share not just lab equipment and bench space but also personal experience and why not, fun in the lab! We spent long working hours that (of course) required long coffee breaks with all sort of good edible things such as tea cakes, muffins, biscuits, and many more! Not to miss, as well, occasional dinner breaks where take-away chips and soup were like the best thing since sliced bread. Of course not everything was lab work. We also had some free time to visit the lovely city of Edinburgh wher...

  If you join the Lamprou group, it's not only for   its academic side and the perspective of spending your next three years in the lab of the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS). Let's admit it, we love   passing a spare couple of hours in social activities.   Winter has arrived once again, and we   could not miss out a Christmas party with the   rest of the group, even if   this occurred a little bit early in our calendar, at the very beginning of December.

With winter fast approaching and the early onset of seasonal affective disorder just round the corner it was concluded that in order to raise the groups’ spirits an outing should be prescribed. Since lab rats do not get out the lab often we decided to organise a self-guided mystery tour of our wonderful base city of Glasgow. With countless free museums in Glasgow ( http://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/ ) throughout hiding some of the best collections in the world, along with a simple easy-to-use underground system ( www.spt.co.uk/subway/ ) a trail was set up to take three teams from a secret location to a secret location covering the entire city. A great way to not only show-off some of the spectacular sights of the Commonwealth games host city to the new students from further afield but it was also a chance for the students who are residents to revisit some well-loved trips and tourist hot spots.

Being a parent is far from easy; however it is one of the most rewarding things a person can do. Being a teen parent, on the other hand, often carries with it a “stigma” which leads to many other issues for the young mother. We say mother as the teenage parents are often unmarried and living apart, so the father sometimes manages to “escape” many of the duties that a parent should be responsible for, leading to little effect on “normal” life.

The first group meeting for this academic year took place on the 5th of November at 09:00. Meeting as a group leads to more collaboration among the group members, learn to work as a team, and plan social activities . These group meetings will take place twice a month and are informal gatherings to discuss research results, problems and ideas. The members will also present techniques that will be useful to the entire group, and other people's work (paper discussion).