Graduate student Kamonwad Ngamchuea wins Royal Society of Chemistry Award
Kamonwad, who is working in the field of electrochemistry under the supervision of Professor Richard Compton, was awarded the prize in recognition of the quality of her research in analytical chemistry, in particular for her work on human saliva and the quantification of glutathione as a biomarker.
The Royal Society of Chemistry describes Kamonwad Ngamchuea’s work: ‘Her research is focused on the development of chemical sensors using electroanalytical and spectrophotometric methods. In particular, she has developed a sensor for the detection of glutathione in blood, plasma and saliva, and has collaborated with medical researchers to realise a vision for at point-of-care testing of bipolar disorder. More generally, Kamonwad has been investigating the possibility of saliva as a non-invasive replacement of blood for health monitoring.
In addition to her work on the quantification of biomarkers (indicator of disease), Kamonwad has further developed sensors for the detection of ensembles and individual silver nanoparticles using the novel nano-impact technique.
To date, she is the primary author of 14 peer-reviewed scientific papers and an invited review article on salivary biomarkers. She has further contributed her expertise to 8 other publications. She has given oral and poster presentations at several international conferences, where she has won several presentation awards. She is funded by the Royal Thai government under the Development and Promotion of Science and Technology Talents Project, and is the recipient of the Anglo-Thai Society Educational Award in Science for Excellence 2017.’
Kamonwad's supervisor, Professor Richard Compton, also won an RSC Prize in Analytical Chemistry this year, the Robert Boyle Prize, so it's wonderful that two members of the same Group should be recognised in this way.