Profile
Jack Webb
-
About Me:
Hi, I’m Jack! I live in Macclesfield, near Manchester. I attended the University of Nottingham from 2018 to 2022 studying Chemistry and now work as an analytical scientist at AstraZeneca!
I enjoy hiking in the Peak District, video games and have taken up playing the drums.
-
Read more
I started playing the drums in around October 2023 and enjoy playing rock/funk music – I’ll usually start with songs that I know and like, then try to learn the drums to that. My favourite to play at the moment is ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ by The Darkness (100% recommend).
I now live in Macclesfield, but I am originally from Wolverhampton, near Birmingham. Usually people ask me if I support Wolves Wanderers, but I’m actually not the biggest football fan – sorry!
I think the reason that I ended up doing STEM as a career is mostly due to watching a lot of MythBusters when I was about 10 or 11 – I started doing experiments at home with stuff I found in the cupboards and eventually moved to professional labs at school and uni!
-
My pronouns are:
he/him
-
My Work:
I work at AstraZeneca as a Graduate Analytical Scientist. I work as an analytical chemist and use different analytical chemistry techniques to analyse and develop new medicines for cancer and rare diseases!
-
Read more
My work is mostly on brand-new medicines that are before or just entering very early clinical trials (where medicines are tested on volunteers).
This makes my job very exciting as the work that I do can make a real difference in a few years when the medicines are tested and given to patients!
-
My Typical Day:
My day-to-day work involves a lot of work in the lab! I usually start at around 8am and I’m wearing a lab coat for about 60% of any day – the rest of the time I’m usually in meetings, writing up results or data in my office, or my favourite part – having lunch!
-
Read more
In the lab I do testing on drug tablets to see how they dissolve and how they might interact with the human body. I work with a lot of analytical machines that can tell us exactly what is in each tablet to make sure that they are suitable for patients to take. I work closely with the team responsible for the formulation of the medicine (basically what goes into a tablet) to tweak different aspects of the medicine to our liking.
-
What I'd do with the prize money:
I work with a team of STEM ambassadors from AstraZeneca, and I’d use the money to purchase additional chemistry kits that we can take out to local schools and show off some cool experiments.
-
Education:
Primary school: Villers Primary, Bilston
Secondary school: Heath Park, Wolverhampton
Masters Degree: University of Nottingham
-
Qualifications:
I gained 10 GCSEs at my secondary school and went on to gain A*AAB in Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Maths A level.
After that, I went off to the University of Nottingham and gained a First class ‘Chemistry with a Year in Industry MSci’ degree.
-
Work History:
My first job was at Wolverhampton Library, where I worked after school and sixth form shelving and organising books, running workshops and helping members of the public.
I then got a job as an A Level chemistry and biology tutor at university, where I tutored students online in my spare time (helping some to achieve their target grades!)
I then did a year industrial placement while at university at GlaxoSmithKline (they make Sensodyne, Panadol and a whole lot of medicines) in Hertfordshire doing respiratory medicine analysis.
After I graduated I worked for a short term at Eurofins in Wolverhampton, doing testing on water samples from around the country – this included stuff from boilers, water dug out from the ground and even sewage! Yes, the lab smelled horrible.
I now work at AstraZeneca in Macclesfield as a Graduate Analytical Scientist!
-
Employer:
AstraZeneca is the UKs largest pharmaceutical company and the 11th biggest in the world. In fact, the Macclesfield site that I work at produces around 1% of the whole of the UK’s exports.
AstraZeneca was founded in 1999, and focus on medicines for cancer, respiratory diseases (like asthma), infection, heart problems and many rare diseases.
-
My Interview
-
How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Lab Based Drummer
What did you want to be after you left school?
I honestly had no idea - but I knew that I wanted to work in science.
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Not often.
If you weren't doing this job, what would you choose instead?
Not changed from when I was 5 - astronaut.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Foo Fighters!
What's your favourite food?
Can't go wrong with a pizza - lots of room for variety.
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
For my friends and family to be happy and healthy, to have more time in the day, to speak many languages fluently.
Tell us a joke.
What do you call a monkey in a minefield? A baboom!
-