Martin Boland

I'm a consultant scientist in the area of defence against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threads.

Explosions, fires and things that will make you very ill were formative events in my interest in science. Since then I've studied at Manchester Metropolitan University (BSc Chemistry) and UMIST (PhD) and worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at The University of Melbourne, before running my own lab at Charles Darwin University.

All that has involved me in making plastic stabilisers by the tonne; synthesizing research drug molecules in milligram quantities; studying protein-membrane interactions using instruments such as solid-state NMR and the Platypus neutron reflectometer at ANSTO; and various other projects related to pharmaceutical and biological chemistry.

These days I work in private industry as a scientist advising and teaching on topics related to CBRN defence.