Centre for Rapid Online Analysis of Reactions (ROAR), Phase II
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
The Centre for Rapid Online Analysis of Reactions (ROAR) at Imperial College London was established in 2018, with the award of a strategic equipment grant, and offers three main capabilities: High-throughput automated reaction platforms (robots) for screening reactions in parallel; in situ analytics for studying reaction progress (kinetics); and continuous flow reactors. The primary objective of ROAR is to provide access to capital equipment to support data-led research, including statistical approaches and data analysis associated with kinetic and high-throughput experimentation.
During the first phase of its operation, ROAR has successfully established itself as a UK Flagship facility for the EPSRC Dial-a-Molecule Grand Challenge, and recognised by Imperial College as a Centre of Excellence. During this period ROAR has provided support to both Imperial College research groups and external users via open calls for proposals, fostering the growth of a user community that brings together over 85 groups from across the UK, including SME's, as well as global companies looking for the unique technological capabilities.
In Phase II of the project, we wish to expand our activities to provide more training material for centres for doctoral training, and to support a new academic strategy at Imperial (DigiFAB Institute). The Resources Only award will allow us to expand our Operations Team, needed to implement workflows to improve sharing and accessibility of our equipment, by operating an equipment loan pool, and remote experiments. Over this period, we will also be assessing the user demand and feedback, to identify sustainable pathways forward.
During the first phase of its operation, ROAR has successfully established itself as a UK Flagship facility for the EPSRC Dial-a-Molecule Grand Challenge, and recognised by Imperial College as a Centre of Excellence. During this period ROAR has provided support to both Imperial College research groups and external users via open calls for proposals, fostering the growth of a user community that brings together over 85 groups from across the UK, including SME's, as well as global companies looking for the unique technological capabilities.
In Phase II of the project, we wish to expand our activities to provide more training material for centres for doctoral training, and to support a new academic strategy at Imperial (DigiFAB Institute). The Resources Only award will allow us to expand our Operations Team, needed to implement workflows to improve sharing and accessibility of our equipment, by operating an equipment loan pool, and remote experiments. Over this period, we will also be assessing the user demand and feedback, to identify sustainable pathways forward.
Publications
Wade J
(2022)
Controlling anisotropic properties by manipulating the orientation of chiral small molecules.
in Nature chemistry
Schrecker L
(2023)
Discovery of unexpectedly complex reaction pathways for the Knorr pyrazole synthesis via transient flow
in Reaction Chemistry & Engineering
Verma V
(2023)
Experimental Elucidation of Templated Crystallization and Secondary Processing of Peptides.
in Pharmaceutics
Fekete M
(2021)
Flow Chemistry - Fundamentals
| Description | This award has allowed the Centre for Rapid Online Analysis of Reactions (ROAR) to continue our mission of providing the UK chemical sector, including academia and industry, with access to the state of the art equipment and expertise needed perform data-rich studies of chemical systems. A major objective of this grant was to develop new training materials to support centres for doctoral training, something which the ROAR team has supported throughout the grant period. A particular example of this ongoing training was recently presented by Dr Benjamin Deadman to the JMP Discovery Summit Europe 2023 meeting, where he discussed how the teaching of Design of Experiments (DoE) by ROAR has evolved as a result of the support provided by this grant. Perhaps the most significant findings which resulted from this work were the identification of pathways towards becoming a self-sustaining research facility. A notable milestone on this pathway was getting the ROAR Facility added to the Imperial College London chargeout facility list in February 2022. Our status as a registered chargeout facility has since allowed our Academic user group to include the costs of access to ROAR in their RCUK funding applications, which is a necessary step towards becoming a self-sustaining facility. Over the periof of this grant we have also refined our processes for provinding our Industrial users with rapid access to our capabilities, by handling contracts and invoicing through Imperial Consultants. |
| Exploitation Route | The pathway that ROAR is on towards becoming a self-sustaining facility is already serving as a roadmap for several Strategic Equipment initiatives at Imperial College London. The ROAR team have also been very open in discussing our journey with younger facilities at external academic institutions, both in the UK and internationally, to ensure that the lessons we have learned are not squandered. In the coming years we hope to see a thriving international ecosystem of high-throughput experimentation facilities which can work together to tackle the big challenge of turning chemistry into a truly data led science. |
| Sectors | Chemicals,Education,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Description | The ROAR facility has contributed to the industrial competitiveness of the UK, by helping our industrial user group to gain access to the state of the art equipment and expertise needed perform data-rich studies of chemical systems. In the period from March 2022 to February 2023 has provided 6 SMEs, from the UK and Europe, with access to our facility. Looking forward the interest from industry continues to grow and we look forward to welcoming many more companies into our user group in the coming months. On the academic and training front ROAR trained its first cohort of ROAR Fellows in 2022. The ROAR Fellows are 6 doctoral and post-doctoral researchers which undertook a program of advanced training on the ROAR instrumentation over a period of 6 months. These Fellows are now an important conduit for transferring the knowledge of ROAR into the research groups at Imperial College London and are generating several new areas of research activity involving the usage of the ROAR facility. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Chemicals,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology,Pharmaceuticals and Medical Biotechnology |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Description | BASF Studentships 2021-2025 Intake |
| Amount | £334,612 (GBP) |
| Organisation | BASF |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | Germany |
| Start | 10/2021 |
| End | 09/2025 |
| Description | High-throughput approach for improving RNA nanoparticles as drug delivery agents |
| Amount | £125,763 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 75525 |
| Organisation | Innovate UK |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 02/2021 |
| End | 01/2023 |
| Description | Industrial React CDT Studentship Contribution |
| Amount | £37,400 (GBP) |
| Organisation | AstraZeneca |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2021 |
| End | 09/2025 |
| Description | Industrial React CDT Studentship Contribution |
| Amount | £51,562 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Johnson & Johnson |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | United States |
| Start | 10/2021 |
| End | 09/2025 |
| Description | Industrial React CDT Studentship Contribution (2021-2025) |
| Amount | £50,251 (GBP) |
| Organisation | GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) |
| Sector | Private |
| Country | Global |
| Start | 10/2021 |
| End | 09/2025 |
| Description | 'Imperial and BASF in major partnership to advance future of chemical production'. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Prof. Mimi Hii (ROAR Director) contributed to a news article describing the strategic partnership of Imperial College London and BASF to support translating expertise into practical innovations with tangible benefits, including environmental benefits from advancing chemistry research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/238391/imperial-basf-major-partnership-advance-future/ |
| Description | 'The impact of automation and digital chemistry on catalysis' workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | ROAR Director Prof Mimi Hii and Facility Manager Dr Ben Deadman organised and hosted a two-day virtual workshop, 'The impact of automation and digital chemistry on catalysis', alongside the UK Catalysis Hub on 2-3 November 2022. This workshop was designed to allow pioneers and practitioners to share their experiences, followed by time for questions and panel discussions in each of the four focus areas (automation, digital chemistry, chemistry in flow, and industry 4.0). Speakers were based in both industry and academia from the UK and abroad. Several UK facilities open to external users in the UK were also highlighted. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://ukcatalysishub.co.uk/the-impact-of-automation-and-digital-chemistry-on-catalysis/ |
| Description | DoE Workshop for the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Synthesis & Reaction Technology |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Training in Design of Experiments (DoE) provided by Dr Benjamin Deadman (ROAR Facility Manager) to 4+ cohorts of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Synthesis & Reaction Technology and associated MRes degree. The training was either a 2-day in person workshop, or 3 x 3 hour online sessions, which were co-delivered with Dr Volker Kraft from JMP. The training served as an introduction to DoE and equipped students with some tools to start designing their own experiments and using statistical analysis in their research. Numerous students have since come back to Dr Deadman to get follow up advice and support in using these techniques in their own research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020,2021,2022,2023 |
| Description | Interview on collaboration with researchers in South Africa, 'Sustainable way to make breast cancer drug could boost South African production'. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | ROAR Director Prof Mimi Hii and Facility Manager Benjamin Deadman were interviewed for an article, 'Sustainable way to make breast cancer drug could boost South African production', which was published on 26 October 2022. The article is expected to have been widely read by current and former staff and students of Imperial College London as well as external and third party associates. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/240814/sustainable-make-breast-cancer-drug-could/ |
| Description | Invited Speaker, Prof Mimi Hii at The Digital Future of Process Chemistry and Technology; Royal Society of Chemistry, Burlington House (18 Nov 2022) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Described our efforts in inaugurating a centralised automated research facility (ROAR) in the U.K., to support training of early career researchers (rEaCt CDT), as well as supporting technical needs of the synthetic chemistry community. Attempts to integrate automated data-led processes in our research were demonstrated with a few case studies, including high-throughput screening in continuous flow and online analytical methods, and led to increased interest in automated processes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.rsc.org/events/detail/74825/the-digital-future-of-process-chemistry-and-technology |
| Description | Invited lecture at the BASF Mini-Symposium on 'Autonomous Research Machines' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | ROAR Director Prof Mimi Hii was invited to give a lecture at the BASF Mini-Symposium 'Autonomous Research Machines' on 10 June 2022. Prof Hii presented case studies and current activities at ROAR to both academic and industry representatives. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Invited lecture by B Deadman at The Applied Catalysis Group (ACG) & UK Catalysis Hub Meeting 2021 (17 Mar 2021) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Ben Deadman (ROAR Facility Manager) was invited to present the work of the ROAR facility at The Applied Catalysis Group (ACG) & UK Catalysis Hub Meeting 2021 (17 Mar 2021). This online meeting, themed around Applied Characterisation of Catalysts, was attended by members of the Applied Catalysis Group (ACG) and UK Catalysis Hubs. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://ukcatalysishub.co.uk/the-applied-catalysis-group-acg-uk-catalysis-hub-meeting-2021/ |
| Description | Invited lecture by B Deadman at UKQSAR Autumn 2020 Meeting (15 Oct 2020) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Ben Deadman (ROAR Facility Manager) was invited to present the work of the ROAR facility at the UKQSAR Autumn 2020 meeting. This online meeting was attended by members of the UK Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) and Cheminformatics Group, and the Medicines Discovery Catapults. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://ukqsar.org/index.php/2020/12/09/ukqsar-autumn-2020-meeting-15th-october-2020-virtual-meeting... |
| Description | Invited lecture by B Deadman at the RSC Process Chemistry and Technology Group Meeting - How can Process Chemistry and Technology Enable Sustainability? (18-19 Nov 2021) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Ben Deadman (ROAR Facility Manager) was invited to present the work of the ROAR facility at the RSC Process Chemistry and Technology Group 2021 Meeting (18-19 Nov 2021). This online meeting, titled "How can Process Chemistry and Technology Enable Sustainability?" brought together the process chemistry community to discuss the importance of sustainability in the chemical industries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.rsc.org/events/detail/48088/how-can-process-chemistry-and-technology-enable-sustainabili... |
| Description | Invited lecture by Prof. Mimi Hii at the 6th Swiss Chemical Society Syngenta Symposium: Chemistry lab of the future |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Invited Lecture, Swiss Chemical Society-Syngenta 2021 Symposium: "Chemistry lab of the future", November 26, 2021, virtual. The event was attended by PG students, as well as researchers from academia and industry, but the virtual event was also attended by participants from other European countries, particularly UK (where Syngenta also has a R&D site). The talk specifically addressed the challenges in training the next generation of scientist and engineers in new chemical technology, with exemplars drawn from our work with the ROAR facility. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://syngenta21.scg.ch/ |
| Description | Invited lecture, 'Catalysis in Flow & Lab-of-the-Future' at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | ROAR Director Prof Mimi Hii was invited to present, ''Catalysis in Flow & Lab-of-the-Future', at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia on 9 October 2022. Prof Hii presented case studies and current activities at ROAR to staff and both undergraduate and postgraduate students of the university. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Invited lecture, 'Reaction Automation at the Centre for Rapid Online Analysis of Reactions (ROAR)', at a commercial company |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | ROAR Facility Manager Dr Ben Deadman presented a case study and activities at ROAR at an international webinar hosted by a commercial company, Syngenta. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Invited lecture, 'The digital molecule', at the 8th Dialogue for Global Innovation Symposium (DGFI-8) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | ROAR Director Prof Mimi Hii was invited to present at the 8th Dialogue for Global Innovation Symposium (DGFI-8) on 5 October 2022. Prof Hii presented 'The digital molecule' highlighting case studies and current activities at ROAR to an international audience of academic and industry representatives. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Invited speaker, C Roberts at the Automated Synthesis Forum 2022, 'A case study from the Centre for Rapid Online Analysis of Reactions (ROAR)', (28-29 Nov 2022) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Dr Chris Roberts (ROAR Research Technician) was invited to present a case study from the ROAR facility at the 2022 Automated Synthesis Forum (28-29 Nov 2022). This forum was held in-person in Macclesfield, UK, and brought together academics and industrial partners of the automated synthesis community to discuss the importance of real-world research in synthetic chemistry. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://automatedsynthesisforum.co.uk/asf-2022-agenda/ |
| Description | Keynote lecture by Prof Mimi Hii at the Atlantic Basin Conference on Chemistry (ABCChem), Marrakech, Morocco, December 13-16, 2022 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | ROAR Director Prof Mimi Hii was invited to present a keynote lecture at the Atlantic Basin Conference on Chemistry (ABCChem) in Marrakech, Morocco, December 13-16, 2022. Prof Hii presented case studies and current activities at ROAR to an international audience of academics and industry representatives. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Plenary lecture, 'Catalysis in Flow: Potential and limitations', for ISPOChem, 30 May 2022. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | ROAR Director Prof Mimi Hii was invited to present a plenary lecture, 'Catalysis in Flow: Potential and limitations', for ISPOChem on 30 May 2022. Prof Hii presented case studies and current activities at ROAR to an international audience that included representatives from academia and industry. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation at the GRC Green Chemistry Conference: Chemical Sciences Driving Sustainability - 'Catalysis in Flow' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | ROAR Director Prof Mimi Hii gave a presentation of activities and opportunities at ROAR for the GRC Green Chemistry Conference: Chemical Sciences Driving Sustainability on 25 July 2022. The conference highlighted the most recent advances in minimizing the use and/or production of substances toxic to humans and the environment while maximizing resource efficiency and striving for closed material and energy cycles with an emphasis on scientific progress for real world applications. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.grc.org/green-chemistry-conference/2022/ |
| Description | Presentation by Ben Deadman at the JMP Discovery Summit Europe 2023 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Benjamin Deadman (ROAR Facility Manager) presented to the JMP Discovery Summit Europe 2023 on 9th March 2023 about how the teaching of Design of Experiments (DoE) has evolved at ROAR since we began providing workshops in 2019. The feature of the presentation was an overview of our DoE role playing game which we use for providing an interactive and flexible learning environment which our participants can use to test out and learn about DoE techniques and methods. The audience was made up of DoE experts from industry and academia, and there was significant interest in accessing these tools for their own training. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://community.jmp.com/t5/Discovery-Summit-Europe-2023/The-DOE-Role-Playing-Game-Interactive-Trai... |
| Description | Public engagement activity at the Great Exhibition Road Festival (9-10 October 2021) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Dr Ben Deadman (ROAR Facility Manager) teamed up with the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Synthesis & Reaction Technology to run a public engagement activity at the Great Exhibition Road Festival (9-10 October 2021 in the Science Museum). The activity was targeted at children and families, and involved two activities which highlighted the importance of synthetic chemistry in making everyday products. In the first acitvity the visitors got to smell several fragrance chemicals and attempt to guess what they smelled like, and whether they were synthetic or natural fragrances. In the second activity the audience was shown chemical structures of several household chemicals and challenged to separate them into synthetic and naturally sourced chemicals. Over 1,000 children and parents were engaged with over the weekend, with many having thoughtful conversations with the CDT students about the importance of synthetic chemistry. Science Museum organisers reported afterwards that the 'guess the fragrance' activity was the most talked about of all the activities at the wider event. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.greatexhibitionroadfestival.co.uk/ |
| Description | The Analytical Wavelength. Episode 4: The Future of Chemistry Education |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | A podcast on the future of chemical education, including perspectives on the future of chemistry and how to teach programing. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.acdlabs.com/resources/podcasts/the-analytical-wavelength/04-the-future-of-chemistry-educ... |