David Andrews is in the Department of Chemistry at The University of East Anglia, and works on the quantum theory of light-matter interactions.

1. What made you want to be a chemist?

I had a keen interest in science from early childhood, fired up by a memorable first visit to London’s Science Museum. Like many young lads I had a chemistry set, and I remember my Dad taking me to a supplier to supplement my basic stock of chemicals with more exotic compounds and reagents. In the sixth-form at school we were taught by a wild-haired Welshman with cracked spectacles, whose enthusiasm for chemistry was hugely infectious. I know at least three of our fifteen-strong class went on to do first and then higher degrees in chemistry; our schoolteacher was truly inspirational.

2. If you weren’t a chemist and could do any other job, what would it be – and why?

I would gladly go into graphic design. It is a subject that fascinates me; I can spend hours playing with the fantastic software now available. Decent graphics can play a very important role in scientific publishing; good artwork should be visually pleasing and informative. Inspired by the concept of dendrimer symmetry, my daughter recently produced a tailor-made cover image for one of my books, and I have contributed to the choice and production of several others.

3. What are you working on now, and where do you hope it will lead?

Most of my research group’s efforts at present concern what has been termed ‘optical binding’ – the astonishing discovery that light itself can produce and modify intermolecular and inter-particle forces. In a nutshell, this means that it is now possible to manipulate micro- and nano-particles into stable, non-contact assemblies, held together by light – rather like a scaled-up version of the atomic bonding in molecules. If it lives up to its current promise, this could progress into major advances in the field of nanofabrication.

4. Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with – and why?

What a question! One of many in my A-list would be Michael Faraday who, despite significantly disadvantaged origins, rose to become world-renowned for his pioneering experiments and penetrating insights into chemistry, optics and electromagnetism. Lacking the pomposity that too often comes with fame, he would be fascinating and congenial company, I think.

5. When was the last time you did an experiment in the lab – and what was it?

Last year I visited St Andrews University with a colleague, and we were allowed hands-on experience of some highly sophisticated optical micromanipulation kit. That is the closest I have come to doing an experiment since undergraduate days. As a student I got on well in the labs, but although I enjoyed the physical chemistry, the organic experiments in particular I found quite scary. After electing for a third-year project in theory, there was no more practical to do. Letting me into a lab these days is probably quite risky.

6. If exiled on a desert island, what one book and one music album would you take with you?

For the book, almost anything by Thomas Hardy – but for choice, A Pair of Blue Eyes – and for the music album, the exquisite The Mask and the Mirror by Loreena McKennitt. She has the voice of an angel, and her songs are heartachingly beautiful.

7. Which chemist would you like to see interviewed on Reactions – and why?

I will choose Greg Scholes at Toronto; he is someone whose science I have the very highest regard for – and who is a very unassuming, modest individual. His views should be well worth hearing.

Jonathan Sweedler is the James R. Eiszner Family Chair in Chemistry and has appointments in Physiology and Neuroscience at the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign; his research area involves analytical neurochemistry and he studies novel neurochemistry related to learning, behaviour and neuronal network formation.

1. What made you want to be a chemist?

I have always loved science and knew I wanted a career in science research. My original exposure to chemistry was home chemistry sets and learning how to make reactions that go boom – while perhaps not too acceptable in our society today, this was more accepted in the 1970s. Given this interest, I guess it is not too surprising that my first vhemistry-related job was working at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for three summers while I was an undergraduate student.

2. If you weren’t a chemist and could do any other job, what would it be – and why?

Since receiving my PhD in chemistry, I have moved my research toward my other science fascination — neuroscience and understanding the functioning of the brain. About one third of my group now includes students from the physiology and neuroscience departments and the rest are from the chemistry department. If I wasn’t a chemist, I would still be at a university but likely housed in a neuroscience department. I enjoy university research too much to do anything else!

3. What are you working on now, and where do you hope it will lead?

My group has two major interests — one is creating new analytical tools to probe nanoliter and smaller samples for their chemical constituents (sometimes such measurements are called metabolomics and proteomics), and the other applies these techniques to well defined neuronal networks to understand cell to cell signalling in the brain. We characterize novel neurochemical pathways related to neuropeptides, serotonin, chiral amino acids and nitric oxide, as well as try to determine the physiological function of the new compounds we uncover.

4. Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with – and why?

What a question. Perhaps Antony van Leeuwenhoek; he created some of the first effective microscopes and made some of the most important discoveries in biology, such as discovering bacteria, microscopic protists, sperm cells, blood cells, and rotifers. Of course, he only spoke Dutch and I do not, and so perhaps this would not be the best dinner conversation.

5. When was the last time you did an experiment in the lab — and what was it?

I still go to marine stations to collect selected marine invertebrates as they make wonderful models to study learning and memory in a well defined neuronal network. I can collect animals, study their brains and probe their unique neurochemistry. Yes, spending time (and diving for animals) in the Caribbean or the Pacific Northwest really is part of my “job.”

6. If exiled on a desert island, what one book and one music album would you take with you?

So I am allowed a CD player and power with only one CD, but not my i-pod full of all my favourite music, games, and texts? How about if I use the power supply for the CD to power a nice two-way radio? OK, as far as the book, either the complete works of William Shakespeare (I have not read many of his plays), or one of the “How to Survive on a Desert Island” survival guides I see listed on Google.

7. Which chemist would you like to see interviewed on Reactions – and why?

Richard Zare at Stanford University: He is a very creative person; I am sure his answers would be more interesting than mine.

Jason Chin is in the Division of Protein and Nucleic Acid Chemistry of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, and works on engineering the chemistry and biology of life

1. What made you want to be a chemist?

Curiosity about the mechanisms by which invisible rules control change in the visible world made me want to be a scientist.

2. If you weren’t a chemist and could do any other job, what would it be – and why?

A writer. I read continuously, often several books at once. Most recently I read Olive Kitteridge, A Fraction of the Whole, Sea of Poppies and Netherland. Writing is just so versatile.

3. What are you working on now, and where do you hope it will lead?

Reprogramming the genetic code. We hope to accelerate our mechanistic understanding of post-translational modifications by genetically encoding the modifications and looking at their effects. We also hope to turn the cell into a general polymer synthesis device.

4. Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with – and why?

T. E. Lawrence. I imagine he could tell an interesting story or two.

5. When was the last time you did an experiment in the lab – and what was it?

A year or so ago. I helped with a method to measure the fidelity of a ribosome a student had evolved, by looking at 35S cysteine mis incorporation into a gene with no cysteine codons.

6. If exiled on a desert island, what one book and one music album would you take with you?

I would need a subscription to The New Yorker. In general it is beautifully written and brings together lots of interesting articles and fiction. I read The New Yorker in Cambridge, so I know how it feels to read it far from the source already

7. Which chemist would you like to see interviewed on Reactions – and why?

John Sutherland at Manchester University, UK. Because he is using chemistry to ask the right questions about the origins of biology and provide elegant and important pre-biotic syntheses – arguably the most important syntheses.