Scientific Update Welcomes New Senior Process Chemist Dr. Bec Newton
Scientific Update is delighted to announce the recent appointment of Dr. Bec Newton as a Senior Process Chemist. Bec completed her chemistry degree at the University of Bristol in 1999 where she gained early industrial experience with AstraZeneca (then Zeneca), Avonmouth as an industrial placement student. Bec further developed her skills in the Chemical Development team at GSK, Stevenage. Whilst at GSK, Bec attended the Scientific Update course Contemporary Strategies in Organic Synthesis and was inspired to obtain her PhD in organic chemistry at the University of Leeds in 2007. Following her PhD, Bec backpacked around the world and conducted post-doctoral research at CSIRO in Melbourne.
She has held roles as a Process Chemistry Team Leader at Sai Life Sciences, worked in the scale-up lab at Peakdale Molecular, and served as an industrial post-doc at AstraZeneca, Macclesfield. Additionally, she contributed to an oncology project at the Drug Discovery Unit at Cancer Research UK, Manchester, through to candidate nomination.
Bec joined Scientific Update in June 2024, bringing over 20 years of experience in drug discovery, process chemistry, and scale-up, with prior positions at GSK, Sai Life Sciences and Cancer Research UK. She has already become involved in teaching some of Scientific Update’s training courses, developing new courses, and contributing to our conference program.
The Team Reaction
Dr. Claire Francis, Scientific Update Director, stated, “We are thrilled that Bec has chosen to join our team. Her technical expertise in process chemistry will be a great asset as we seek to expand and strengthen our portfolio of events. Bec is eager to ‘give back’ to the process chemistry community, and we look forward to working with her.”
Hannah May, Operations Director, remarked, “Phoebe, Vicky, Caroline, and I are very excited to be working with Bec to develop our training courses and events. We will keep her busy, but we’ll ensure she still has time to deliver current and inspiring courses and content.”
Speaking about her new role, Bec said, “I am really excited at the opportunity to join the Scientific Update team to develop new training materials, host events, and grow the business globally. Attending courses, conferences, and consulting sessions arranged by Scientific Update helped me grow as a scientist and build my professional network during my career. I hope that in my new role, I can do the same for others. I am particularly keen in supporting women in STEM and I’m pleased to be a part of EWOC helping this area of development to act as a mentor to other women in this industry sector”
About Scientific Update
Scientific Update was established in 1989 to organize conferences and training courses for industrial chemists and chemical engineers in chemical development, scale-up, and many other specialist topics in organic chemistry. We also provide extensive consultancy services in these fields and act on the Editorial Advisory Board for the international scientific journal Organic Process Research and Development (OPRD).
Our specialist conferences provide the perfect forum for organic process chemists and chemical engineers to network with experts from industry worldwide. Our short intensive training courses both In-person and online enable scientists to learn about highly relevant topics, broaden their knowledge, and stay abreast of new science, technology, and techniques. A complete list of the scheduled training courses currently available can be viewed on our website, with many also available for bespoke in-house training.
