Profile
Jack Webb
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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!
I enjoy hiking in the Peak District, video games and have taken up playing the drums.
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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!
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My pronouns are:
he/him
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My Work:
I work 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!
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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!
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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!
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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.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I work with a team of STEM ambassadors from my work, 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.
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Education:
Primary school: Villers Primary, Bilston
Secondary school: Heath Park, Wolverhampton
Masters Degree: University of Nottingham
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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.
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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!
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My Interview
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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!
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