Witchcraft’s chemical secrets: the science behind the spells

There be witches here! As a pre-Halloween treat on the evening of Tuesday 28 October 2025, RSC Belgium welcomed science writer Victoria Atkinson to Belgium to give a talk entitled ‘Witchcraft’s chemical secrets: the science behind the spells’.

The infamous witch hunts of the 16th and 17th century claimed thousands of lives (the vast majority of these victims being women), but behind the accusations lay a complex relationship between chemistry, traditional medicine and magic. In her talk Victoria explored how plant alkaloids and folk knowledge created potent and effective remedies that were both feared and sought after.

Dr Victoria Atkinson is a third-generation chemist who studied at the University of Oxford including a fourth-year master’s project working on catalytic methodology with Darren Dixon which led to her first publication. She continued on to do a PhD, with Jeremy Robertson on a total synthesis project, employing enzymatic methodology to produce agrochemical products.

However, towards the end of her PhD, Victoria found that she was enjoying talking about science much more than actually doing it and became heavily involved in science outreach – sharing her enthusiasm for science with younger students through practical workshops and school visits. Later, she focused on developing new outreach material and then made the transition to freelance science journalism via a Marriott Internship with the RSC’s Chemistry World magazine. 

Today Victoria works with a range of publications specialising in chemistry, sustainability and research culture.

You can access Victoria's article on Chemistry and Witchcraft published in Chemistry World here.

Victoria's talk was videoed and you can enjoy it again either via the embedded video below or on our dedicated RSC Belgium YouTube Channel.

Witchcraft’s chemical secrets: the science behind the spells

New windows on our Universe

On the evening of Tuesday 30 September 2025, RSC Belgium welcomed Professor Gwenhaël de Wasseige from the Universite Catholique de Louvain to talk to us about her exciting work on neutrinos and other astronomical phenomena. Her talk was a real eye-opener to the world of new ways of observing our universe through 'multi-messenger' astronomy - in particular extremely sensitive, cutting-edge research to detect neutrinos.

Most of what we know about our Universe today comes from the observation of visible light. To improve our understanding of the numerous exotic phenomena that populate the sky, we need to enlarge the spectrum of our observations. Furthermore, adding new cosmic messengers provides extra pieces to help solve the puzzles of the universe. In the talk, Professor Gwenhaël de Wasseige reviewed the status of multi-messenger astronomy and discussed the pros and cons of each messenger to study some of the most violent events in the universe.

Professor de Wasseige is an astroparticle physicist and a member of both the IceCube and KM3NeT collaborations and her main work is focused on low-energy (MeV-GeV) neutrinos coming from transient events, such as solar flares, core-collapse supernovae, and compact binary star mergers.

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory was the first detector of its kind, designed to observe the cosmos from deep within the Antarctic ice. Encompassing a cubic kilometre of ice, IceCube searches for nearly massless subatomic particles called neutrinos. These high-energy astronomical messengers provide information to probe the most violent astrophysical sources: events like exploding stars, gamma-ray bursts, and cataclysmic phenomena involving black holes and neutron stars.

The KM3NeT collaboration is developing the next generation neutrino telescopes with telescope detector volumes between a megaton and several cubic kilometres of clear sea water. Located in the deepest parts of the Mediterranean, KM3NeT is opening a new window on our Universe including research on the properties of the elusive neutrino particles.

You can find a pdf version of Prof de Wasseige's presentation here and the work of the KN3Net project was recently featured (October 2025) in the EU's Research Magazine Horizon.

The talk took place in the Social Area above the Brel Theatre at the British School of Brussels (BSB), Tervuren and was followed by our usual social networking. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare and beyond

An RSC Café Chimique on Artificial Intelligence (AI) took place on Tuesday 13 May 2025 in the Social Area above the Brel Theatre at the British School of Brussels. Our two speakers were pioneering entrepreneurs of the use of AI in healthcare: Dr Dani Manjah from Professor Benoit Macq's research group at the Ecole Polytechnique de Louvain, and Thibaut Helleputte, founder and CEO of DNAlytics, a start-up specialising in data sciences applied to healthcare located in Louvain-la-Neuve.

The debate was chaired by Professor Bob Crichton, our recent past Chair of the section and the discussion was kicked off, as usual for our Cafe Chimique events, by short presentations from the two speakers.

Our first presentation was from Dani who gave a quick overview of what AI was - and was not - and then described some applications in healthcare. Dani's presentation is embedded below.

Thibaut then gave some further insights to his work on AI and healthcare. His presentation is embedded below as a pdf.

Following the two presentations an extensive and wide-ranging discussion was initiated led by questions from the audience. Issues covered included societal and socio-economic issues as well as sector-specific concepts.

As with our previous debates the audience was seated in a café-style format and gratis drinks and light refreshments were available before and during the event.

Preventing breast cancer recurrence and metastasis

On the evening of 19 May 2022 RSC Belgium members and friends tuning in for a webinar event describing a major breakthrough for the prevention of breast cancer recurrences and metastases with Professor Pierre Sonveaux of the Universite catholique de Louvain. The webinar presented the current state of knowledge in cancer research and in particular the recent discovery of a very promising treatment using the drug MitoQ to prevent metastasis: the mechanism(s) by which cancer spreads from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body.

In many ways, cancer can be thought of as a metabolic disease, said Professor Sonveaux, where cancer cells attempt to grow and multiply by gradually depleting locally available food resources. When these resources dwindle to the point of creating cellular starvation and waste accumulates, some cancer cells activate a metastatic programme which, when fully operational, allows them to leave hostile areas to colonise areas that are more welcoming, often in distant organs.

In clinical practice, this process often marks the transition from curative medical interventions to palliative medical interventions. In breast cancer, Professor Pierre Sonveaux ‘s team has demonstrated that it is possible to halt the metastatic process by blocking the activity of metabolic sensors inside cancer cells. One of the most promising molecules, as it can be administered to humans without major side effects at the doses required to have an effect, is MitoQ. 

This drug holds great promise in preventing cancer from spreading and, therefore, increasing recovery rates for patients. Future research will work to convert this hope into a clinical reality. Prof Sonveaux’s work has focused on the use of MitoQ in breast cancer, but he indicated that studies are showing good results for other cancers, including prostate cancer. This very informative presentation was followed by a lively question and answer session. 

The webinar was recorded and can be viewed below or via the RSC Belgium YouTube channel. Apologies for some issues with the sound quality in parts of this video.

About Prof. Pierre Sonveaux

Pierre Sonveaux is Pharmacist by training. After a Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies in the team of Prof. Benoît Van den Eynde at the Brussels branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, he obtained his PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences (vascular oncology) under the supervision of Prof. Olivier Feron at the Université catholique de Louvain in 2004. As a postdoc, he joined the lab of Prof. Mark W. Dewhirst at Duke University. Back at UCLouvain in 2008, Pierre won an ERC starting grant, was promoted to Assistant Professor, and created his own team of translational research. He is now Research Director of the F.R.S.-FNRS and extra-ordinary Professor at UCLouvain. His team is currently active in three main areas: understanding the oxidative pathway of lactate in cancer; characterising and harnessing the metabolic control of (tissue-specific) cancer metastasis; and unravelling the contribution of cancer and host cell metabolism to chemo- and radio resistance for cancer re-sensitisation. He has authored more than 125 peer-reviewed papers and has nine patent applications.

Café Chimique: The Future of Transport

On the evening of 27 November 2019 RSC Belgium held its latest Cafe Chimique at the Auderghem Cultural Centre in Brussels. The topic was 'The Future of Transport' with a focus on the role and opportunities for chemical sciences in the future transport mix (electric vehicles, hydrogen etc), but also taking a wider view on transport policy.

Our three speakers were:

• Ivone Kaizeler, Team Leader on Competitiveness and International matters at the European Commission Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) whose remit covers the automotive sector;
• Prof Jean-Francois Gohy of the Institute for Condensed Matter and Nanosciences at , Université catholique de Louvain (UCL - pictured speaking below) who researches in the area of battery technologies and electric vehicles, and;
• Dr. Nicolo Campagnol, Knowledge consultant and Battery materials expert and consultants McKinsy & Co.

All three gave short introductory talks on the subject supplemented by a brief outline of the status of hydrogen and fuel cell research from RSC Belgium chairman Prof Bob Crichton before a lively and extended audience-led discussion ensued.

As with our previous Cafe Chimique debates the audience was seated in a café-style format and a gratis bar and light refreshments were available before and during the whole event.

The event was free entry, but we collected for our Norman Lloyd Scholarship Fund during the evening raising a further EUR 220 to support chemistry students from less affluent backgrounds during their first year at Cardiff University.

Beyond the Higgs Boson and Gravitational Waves

On 16 May 2019 RSC Belgium had the pleasure of welcoming back Professor Vincent Lemaitre of UCLouvain for a fascinating talk entitled 'Beyond the recent discoveries of the Higgs Boson and gravitational waves' in the Performing Arts Centre (PAC) at St. Johns International School.

Prof Lemaitre described how the recent discoveries of the Higgs boson and gravitational waves have shown how quantum field theory and general relativity are today's proven theories of modern physics. These two theories have managed to explain thousands of non trivial observations and today, some people think that there is nothing more to discover in physics.

In his presentation, after a reminder and an explanation of these two spectacular discoveries, Prof Lemaitre was able to convince the audience that, on the contrary, we are undoubtedly at the dawn of a new revolution of thought in our quest of a more complete understanding of nature!

Prof Vincent Lemaitre is Director of the Centre for Cosmology, Particle Physics and Phenomenology at the Universite Catholique de Louvain (UCL) and is an enthusiastic ambassador for his science who is able to engage with audiences of all ages. His previous talk to RSC Belgium was a tremendous success and this follow-up again proved to be an extremely animated and informative evening!

Redox active Polymers: The Future for Batteries?

On 27 April 2017 RSC Belgium members and friends gathered at the British School of Brussels to hear Prof Jean-François Gohy from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) give a very informative talk on 'Redox active polymers: the future for batteries?' Jean-Francois' presentation focused on modern battery technologies and advances that may be possible through research in polymer science.

The presentation described the development of novel energy storage systems with enhanced performances using original, organic, electro-active, material chemistry and engineering approaches. Jean-Francois' primary target is to decipher the fundamental flaws in current technologies and build better organic batteries.

His long-term goal is to develop sustainable all-carbon-based batteries. The research aims to design and develop novel electro-active organic materials and architectures in order to develop faster, safer, and longer-lasting organic batteries, capacitors, and their hybrids.

Jean-François Gohy is Professeur Ordinaire at UCLouvain within the Institute for Condensed Matter and Nanosciences and Bio and Soft Matter. His research interests include the synthesis of polymers including: “living” and “controlled” polymerisation techniques; ionic polymers; liquid crystals; surfactants; supramolecular chemistry; self-associating polymers, stimuli-responsive materials, nanomaterials; adsorption of polymers on substrates; nano patterned surfaces; lithium-polymer batteries; and sustainable and green processes for battery materials.

Jean-François was awarded his Master degree in Chemistry from the University of Liège and continued his studies at Liege under Prof. Robert Jérôme obtaining his PhD in 1999. Then following postdoc positions with the Belgian FNRS (Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique) and at Eindhoven University of Technology he moved to the UCL in 2002.

He is first author or coauthor of more than 40 papers in international journals. He is member of the "Research Centre in Micro and Nanoscopic Materials and Electronic Devices" (CERMIN) and member of the Steering Committee of the European Science Foundation SUPERNET programme (Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Complex Polymer Structures).

Iron Man

On the evening of 18 November 2016 RSC Belgium members and friends enjoyed a 'A Journey through the World of Iron' with our recent past Chairman Prof Bob Crichton. This special public lecture was part of a two-day symposium on the role of iron in biochemical and biomedical environments organised to celebrate Prof Crichton's significant contributions to this field. The lecture was followed by a RSC Belgium sponsored reception in Bob's honour.

The venue for our sponsored lecture was Theatre Lavo 51 in the Lavoisier Building at the Universite Catholique de Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve and celebrated 50 years of research into the biochemistry and metabolism of metalloproteins and also marked the 75th birthday of the speaker, UCLouvain's Emeritus Professor, and ex-RSC Belgium Chairman, Robert R. Crichton (below).

During the Symposium, world experts in the biochemistry and metabolism of metalloproteins, especially iron-containing proteins, delivered keynote lectures on their most recent achievements in this area. The lectures presented biochemical studies of iron metabolism, novel therapeutic opportunities and diagnostics, the search for new metal chelators and their crucial importance, together with the results of worldwide research on inflammation and neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. Metalloproteins, especially iron-containing proteins, play a crucial role in numerous diseases, including cancer.

Celebration
The symposium and public lecture enabled us to celebrate the achievements of Prof Bob Crichton who was appointed as a professor of biochemistry at the Université catholique de Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve in 1973 and introduced biochemistry as an mandatory part of the teaching of all chemists at the university. Bob's achievements in the biochemistry of iron proteins have been recognised at international level and he is worldwide leading figure in this important area of science.

After the public lecture an excellent reception was held including a special cake to celebrate Bob's birthday. Bob's long-time colleague at UCLouvain, Prof Istvan Marko, spoke very warmly of Bob's achievements to much applause.

A Better Bang in Brussels

On 7 and 8 April RSC Belgium was delighted to welcome Dr Hal Sosabowski of Brighton University (right, below) and his top team of Dave 'Sideshow' Campbell (centre) and Kurt 'the Driver' Charnock (left) back to Belgium for four explosive demonstration lectures.

The demos were staged in the Roi Baudouin lecture theatres in the Rosalind Franklin Building of the Universite Catholique Louvain (UCL) Woluwe Campus in Brussels.

Three daytime lectures for school audiences (one on Monday 7 April and two on Tuesday 8 April) and an evening public lecture on Monday were staged with the support Air Liquide (for gases), Prof Istvan Marko and Fabio Lucaccioni at UCL Louvain-la-Neuve, and the local team at UCL Woluwe.

Audiences totalled well over 500 over the four shows and everyone left with a smile on their face, inspired and having learnt something new!

Each show lasted well over an hour with questions afterwards and featured classic experiments such as the deadly 'Phosphorus Sun' (above) and the rasping 'Barking Dogs' (below) - the latter involving some infeasibly large test tubes.

Feedback from teachers, members, friends and students was all extremely positive and we'll try not to leave it so long for Dr. Hal's next shows in Belgium.

Stem Cell Therapy: A Potential Cure-all?

RSC Belgium held its first public event of the year on 25 January. Our latest Café Chimique tackled the issues around research into Stem Cell Therapy with two expert speakers, a patient viewpoint and many questions from an audience of over 60 RSC members and friends.

Stem cell therapy has been the source of both Nobel Prizes and much controversy over the past few years. It is the basis for a many new fields of medicine – most notably regenerative medicine – that offer hope for the alleviation and reversal of many critical degenerative conditions. It is also an area in which Europe leads the world in research, but in which regulatory issues abound.

A capacity crowd of over 60 RSC Belgium members and friends made their way on a snowy Friday evening to AutoWorld in Cinquantenaire Park, Brussels to hear from two expert speakers introduced by our chairman Bob Crichton (below, centre).

Our first speaker was Prof. Catherine Verfaillie (below, left) who is Director of the Stem Cell Institute at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL). She was followed by Dr. Denis Dufrane (below, right) who works at the Faculty of Medicine, Universite Catholique de Louvain (UCL) at Woluwe.

In addition a patient’s viewpoint was presented via a five minute video interview with someone participating in a clinical trial. This was particularly poignant as it highlighted the physical and emotional demands of the stem cell harvesting process.

Potential cure-all?
There has been much coverage of the potential of stem cell therapy – but how much is hype and how much hope? Our two speakers took us through the ‘what and how’ of stem cells and the areas where they may have potential medical applications. These areas include insights into human development, drug discovery, the study of drug toxicity, the study of human diseases, cell therapy and tissue engineering.

Initial enthusiasm for stem cell therapy was focused on use of embryonic stem cells which do not age and have the potential to differentiate into all cell types and therefore could potentially heal all diseases. However there were and are many scientific and ethical questions around the use of such cells.

For these reasons research is now concentrated on adult stem cells which do age and did not have such a great potential for differentiation but through an intense global research effort it is possible to create cells that are nearly the equivalent of embryonic stem cells from any human cell. This work as opened the possibility of creating designer stem cells suitable for transplantation, tissue engineering and use in pharmaceuticals.

The Cafe Chimique format allows for an extended, informal question and answer session with the audience seated in small groups at tables. A gratis bar for wine, beer and soft drinks was open for participants throughout the evening and a variety of ‘nibbles and chips’ were also available on the tables.

2013 AGM
Just prior to the Café Chimique the section held its Annual General Meeting where the formal business of approving reports and accounts were undertaken and elections held for the executive committee that guides the section’s activities.

Section secretary Tim Reynolds presented a report on RSC Belgium’s during 2012 and highlighted two particularly enjoyable and well-attended events: the June visit to the Royal African Museum and Tom Frantzen’s sculpture garden in Tervuren and the Higgs boson event in November with Prof. Vincent Lemaitre.

A vote of thanks was made to long time co-opted committee member Elaine Francke who had stepped down during the year and to Chris Phanopoulos and Laura Yonge who had both decided to not seek re-election this year. All three were thanked for their efforts for the section.

Our treasurer, Rita Woodward presented the financial situation of the section. During 2012 the section had made a surplus of over €4300, but it was pointed out that this included grants paid in advance for a delayed joint event with two UK sections (Kent and Chilterns & Middlesex). The section auditor, Ralph Palim, noted that he had found the accounts systematically prepared and in excellent order as usual.

Chairman Prof. Bob Crichton thanked all members of the executive committee during 2012 for their hard work and support during the year. He highlighted the contributions of Rita and Peter Woodward in providing the drinks and nibbles for many of the events during the year that added so much to the evening meetings.

Elections
A number of posts were up for election as the incumbents had completed their two year term of office. The results of the election and the full membership of the 2013 Executive Committee can found on our Executive Committee page.

If you would like to receive a copy of the draft minutes of the 2013 AGM and/ or any of the reports and other paperwork submitted to the meeting, please contact the section secretary Tim Reynolds via email.

Higgs attracts Mass!

The fabled Higgs boson certainly attracted a mass of people to the Brel theatre at the British School of Brussels (BSB) on 21 November to hear about the work of Prof. Vincent Lemaitre and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Well over 70 members of the public and students heard about the theory behind the Higgs boson and the work at CERN that led up to the ‘discovery’ on 4 July this year of a new fundamental particle that is (very probably) the ‘Higgs’.

Prof Vincent Lemaitre is Director of the Centre for Cosmology, Particle Physics and Phenomenology at the Universite Catholique de Louvain (UCL) and is an enthusiastic ambassador for his science and his passion clearly engaged with the audience.

Prof Lemaitre took us through what was effectively a highly condensed but accessible course on particle physics and cosmology – or as he put it the study of the “infinitely big and the infinitely small.” We learned about the ‘Big Bang’ and that – thanks to Einstein’s famous E=mc² equation - we cannot have mass without energy – however you can have energy without mass. He also pointed out that the most important effect of the Higgs boson was to impart mass to the electron – without it there would be no chemistry and no life as we know it.

Vincent took us through interactions, particles and fields to the work of Robert Brout, Francois Englert and Peter Higgs (two Belgians from ULB and one Brit at Edinburgh University), their establishment of the so-called “symmetry breaking” mechanism in Quantum Field Theory that describes all fundamental interactions of nature and implied the existence of an auxiliary particle came to be known as the Higgs boson and the search for that particle.

He is a collaborator on the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in CERN and described its operation, the mechanisms of the CMS detector components and the difficulties in detecting evidence for the Higgs particle.

After the presentation Prof Lemaitre continued an animated question and answer session with a crowd of excited students and others. He was keen to impart that the discovery on 4th July was only the beginning and a good twenty years of further research would be needed to characterise the new particle and realise new physics. But this would be the work of the “next generation of scientists – you!”

Genes & Prizes

A capacity crowd of over 50 squeezed into the Swoosh Lounge at the British School of Brussels (BSB) to hear Prof Rene Rezsohazy from the Universite Catholique de Louvain consider the question: "Whatever happened to the Gene?". The event on 23 October 2012 was also the occasion for presentation of prizes to the winners of our 2012 Chemistry Challenge competition.

Our second evening event of the Autumn covered the topic of classical genetics with Prof Rene Rezsohazy of the Universite Catholique de Louvain (UCL) (see pictured below on right with section Chairman Bob Crichton).

Prof. Rezsohazy took us on a whistle-stop tour of the development of genetic science and molecular biology via a dozen or more Nobel Prize winners. He started with the founding 'dogma' of Beadle and Tatum of "one gene - one enzyme" and revealed the increasing complexity of structures and interactions that inform our understanding of how genes control development and function.

The discussion and questions continued well after the formal presentation with the aid of drinks and nibbles.

Prizes
The evening also saw the presentation of certificates and cash prizes to pupils from a variety of local schools who had excelled in our Chemistry Challenge Competition.

Pictured above (left) is overall winner - and recipient of the Keith Price Prize - Ally McDermott from BSB. Details of all prize winners for 2012 and, if you fancy trying your hand, a link to the Challenge papers can be found here.

Students Open-mouthed at Chemistry Spectacular

Students from four schools in and around Brussels were left open-mouthed as Prof István Markó and his assistant Fabio Lucaccioni performed their chemistry demonstration lecture “Chemistry and Energy – a Tasty Marriage” at the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) site in Woluwe, Brussels on Tuesday March 20th. Two lectures were organised on the day by the RSC Belgium Section in cooperation with Scienceinfuse based at the UCL main campus at Louvain-la-Neuve.

The students, from St. Johns International School, Waterloo, the Verseau International School at Bierges, the Institut Maris Stella at Laeken and the European School Brussels II at Woluwe watched enthralled as Prof. Markó worked through over an hour of about 20 reactions involving flames, colour changes and explosions.


Following Prof. Markó’s advice the students kept their mouths open to equalise the pressure in their ears during the more substantial bangs. A volcano spluttered, photo flash bulbs were simulated, the heat from a ball of flame caused by burning hydrogen in a balloon was felt by the students in the front rows (see above), and a black serpent rose out of a beaker containing only sugar and battery acid. The students oohed and aah’d as blue luminescence spread downwards in a glass tube demonstrating energy generated in a cold reaction.

Enthusiastic response
Prof. Markó engaged his audience with commentary on the chemistry behind the reactions, and his steady repartee – untrammelled by current notions of political correctness – aimed to challenge their ideas and make them think ‘outside the box’. By the end of the lecture though, he had smoke coming out of his nostrils - from eating a Belgian waffle dipped in liquid nitrogen!

After the event, one teacher commented: “Our students were full of enthusiasm and excitement when they got back to school and enjoyed every aspect of the lecture”.

The demo lecture was repeated to a French-speaking schools audience at UCL at Louvain-la-Neuve on Thursday March 22nd in the afternoon and to a public audience on that evening. On both occasions the 500 capacity auditorium was packed. The total audience for all four shows was in excess of 1200.

TOTB cup presented
At the start of the afternoon lecture at Woluwe the winning team in this year’s RSC Belgium local ‘national’ eliminator of the RSC Top of the Bench (TOTB) Competition was presented with the Keith Price Cup. The winning team from European School Brussels II at Woluwe are pictured below with their teacher Julie Deegan and RSC Belgium Section Chairman Prof. Bob Crichton.


The Woluwe team will represent RSC Belgium at the RSC UK final of TOTB at Imperial College London that takes place on Saturday 31 March. We wish the team good luck for the competition and will report on how they get on in London.

The RSC Belgium TOTB Cup has renamed as the Keith Price Cup last year in honour of our first Chairman and principal "founding father" of the section.

A complete list of the experiments performed during our 2012 demonstration lectures is available on request from RSC Belgium’s Schools Coordinator Rita Woodward.

A Little Light Relief in Woluwe

On the evening of Thursday 27 October, RSC Belgium was delighted to welcome Prof. David Phillips, the President of the RSC, to give his reknowned lecture "A little light relief". The venue for this lecture was the Lecture theatre Roi Baudouin B in the Rosalind Franklin building on the Universite Catholique Louvain (UCL) campus in Woluwe Saint Lambert, Brussels.

As well as being RSC president, David Phillips is Emeritus Professor of Chemistry and former Dean of Sciences at Imperial College London. He also has something of a reputation as a magician, which bacome apparent during his talk.

Prof. Phillips' theme was photomedicine, an area which currently encompasses the effects of light upon the skin, diagnostic uses of light, therapies using non-laser light and the use of lasers.

He described the production of Vitamin D, tanning, how skin ages, and the various types of skin cancers. Photoluminescence is used for immunoassay, the identification of antigens that may be precursors to disease. The technique is used in testing for pregnancy at early stages by seeking the hormone human chorionic gonadotrophin, or testing for HIV.

Baby Bobbit
In terms of the therapeutic uses of light, Prof. Phillips described how light is used to treat ailments such as vitiligo, psoriasis, and jaundice.


The effect of photo luminescence to treat jaundice in young babies was demonstrated with aid of Prof. Phillips' long-time demonstration lecture side-kick: Bobbit - the glass baby (pictured above with RSC Belgium section Chairman Prof. Bob Crichton (left) and Prof. David Phillips (right)).

The main future for photomedicine lies in the development of photodynamic therapy (PDT), which is a minimally invasive procedure used in treating a range of infections and forms of cancer. A number of applications of PDT were described by Prof. Phillips.