Pablo Bonilla, PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Paolo Melchiorre (ICIQ), has virtually defended his PhD thesis entitled “Combining Iminium Ion-Mediated Catalysis and Photochemistry to Develop Enantioselective Radical Processes” (assigned to the Department of Analytical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili) publicly on July 9th.
Dr. Bonilla with the members of the evaluation committee
The members of the examining committee were: Prof. Mikel Oiarbide (Universitat del País Basc/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea), Julio Lloret-Fillol (ICIQ) and Prof. Armando Carlone (Università degli Studi dell’Aquila).
Dr. Bonilla was born in Sevilla, when he was 10 he moved to Madrid where he studied his bachelor in Chemistry at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Feeling bored with nice weather, he decided to complete a master’s in Organic Chemistry at the University of Manchester. In December 2016, he began his PhD at ICIQ under the supervision of Prof. Melchiorre thanks to the funding received through Melchiorre’s ERC grant CATA-LUX. In his free time, he enjoys climbing mountains and skiing surrounded by friends.
Why did you become a scientist?
To me, becoming a scientist felt quite natural since I am, and always have been, very curious about how everything works in its most fundamental way. That’s why I chose one of the central sciences. Also, I would like to help make the world a better place by discovering new pharmaceutical drugs.
From the lessons learned at ICIQ, which one do you value the most?
Besides the excellent scientific seminar series that we enjoy at ICIQ, one of the most useful courses I had the pleasure to attend was “How to give scientific presentations”. Thanks to the trainers we were able to improve the way we communicate our research by learning about ourselves.
What will you miss the most from ICIQ?
I will miss people a lot. Thanks to them, I have enjoyed much more science and life since the first day I set foot in ICIQ.
What advice do you have for someone who’s starting their PhD now?
Invest time on yourself, a PhD has its ups and downs, if you know yourself and have your objectives and motivations always in mind everything will be easier and more enjoyable.
Where are you going next?
I’m currently looking for a position in the pharma industry, but since the summer is already here, I will also spend some time in the mountains with friends and with my family.
If you were a piece of lab equipment, what would you be?
A permanent marker. It is just a pen but, can you imagine the mess in the lab if things were not labeled properly…?