Watching carpentry at a young age inspired Thorri Gunnlaugsson to be a chemist and an enthusiastic cook. Vikki Allen met up with him to find out more.

	Thorfinnur Gunnlaugsson is professor of chemistry at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. His research interests are supramolecular organic and inorganic chemistry and bio and medicinal chemistry, with an emphasis on recognising and targeting biologically important ions and molecules.

What inspired you to become a chemist? 

I was always very interested in science as a kid. I used to do experiments at home. I remember at a very young age, I would take a flask - my father made beer at home and so all his equipment was there - and put a thermometer through a rubber stopper. Then I would put it in a freezer and would look at the evolution of the temperature as a function of time. We study for high school degrees until the age of 20 back home in Iceland and I had a fantastic teacher who taught me organic chemistry. He had a sideline in producing firecrackers so he showed us some inspiring chemistry in some very practical classes. I was fascinated and, in my second year at high school, I decided to do chemistry. My dad is a master carpenter and so I was always in his workshop as a kid and loved the fact that he could make something with his hands that was so beautiful and practical. But I was allergic to the sawdust! In Icelandic the word for synthesis is almost the same as for carpenter, so you would say a 'chemical carpenter', which is was probably the closest I could get to dad's profession! 

Why did you specialise in lanthanides? 

I went to Queen's University of Belfast, UK as a summer student and began working with AP de Silva. He was just amazing. After I finished my degree, I went straight back to work for him. Working with AP is the biggest inspiration there is. Then I was fortunate enough to go and work for David Parker (Durham, UK), studying lanthanides and sensing, which was a great experience. We still work on developing sensors but have turned our attention more to other work, for example more classical supramolecular research such as developing beautiful self-assembly structures. That is what I love about chemistry; we aren't narrowing ourselves to a particular field. My position is simply 'professor of chemistry' and that allows me to have this kind of flexibility. 

You are from Iceland. Is chemistry or science big there? 

Chemistry is taught at the University of Iceland but we were a very small group. There were maybe seven or eight of us in our final year and the course was tough, but every single one of us when on to do a PhD. So now I have Icelandic friends all round the world. We were really well nurtured. I remember it being exciting. We studied the physics that the physicists were studying and the maths that the mathematicians were studying. 

Any plans to return to Iceland? 

There are opportunities there. But I love large research groups. I've always had big groups, of 15 to 20 people and funding for this would be impossible to obtain back home. Many scientists have returned back home and I did consider it. So it's really the way I do science that makes the decision, and I love Ireland. 

What do you miss most about Iceland? 

It's funny really, I could say the weather! I miss the snow. Iceland has the best weather in the world and it is a beautiful country with a very rich culture; very rich literature. I miss that. But nowadays I watch the news live every night on the television through the internet, so those barriers are gone. 

What's the latest hot project that you are working on? 

My research is really going through a huge transition at the moment. We have taken our lanthanide chemistry and are now working on surfaces. So we have now gone into developing gold nanoparticles that have lanthanide complexes. These luminesce and so we can switch their emission on and off. We can do the same on flat gold. That is one area that we are really pushing, as well as developing f-metal ion directed synthesis.  

Another area is anion sensing. There, instead of just sensing, we are using what we learned in the recognition of anions to make large supramolecular structures like rotaxanes and catenanes in a very novel manner.  

And the third area is a lot of work with ruthenium and medicinal chemistry. We do all our own biological studies; we do all our cellular work ourselves and our own imaging. There what we have been able to show is that we can take ruthenium complexes that go into cells, accumulate in the nucleus and then, using an activation process, induce apoptosis. That's really cool! So after around 11 years in Dublin we have a really nice laboratory and a lot of things are changing. I am working with some really dynamic people in my lab. They are very, very good. 

What was the last experiment that you did in the lab? 

I still go into the lab. I don't have a dedicated desk, but I do go into the lab many times a day. And I love helping out with experiments. Most likely my last reaction was last week. And I don't have to clean my glassware afterwards - I can leave that to the students! 

What are you most proud of? 

I think my people. I have had over 20 PhD students graduate from my lab and all of them have done really well. Four of my post-docs now have independent positions. They are the ones that make the discoveries. 

Who is your hero in science? 

Charles J Pedersen - when I read about his Nobel Prize, it was just so personal. His life was exceptional. Who would chase a couple of percent or a fraction of a percent and hope to be able to find something? I wish I had been able to talk to him. 

What do you do when you aren't working? 

I'm always working! And I love cooking. I do a lot of entertaining as well! I also spend time at hurling games; it's a real family sport. It's a really fast game because the 'ball' can go through the air up to 100 metres and the pitch is bigger than a rugby pitch. I even got married mid-week because there was the possibility of a big game the following weekend. But it was for the benefit of the bride's father! 

And what would you do if you weren't a chemist? 

I would possibly be a chef. I would love to own my own restaurant. I probably will one day if I get my way. Cooking is like chemistry. You can get so passionate about it.