Hello, I'm Nick Bainbridge
PhD Candidate in Organic Chemistry
PhD Candidate in Organic Chemistry
My name is Nick Bainbridge, an organic chemist and biochemist with over three years of experience developing radiopharmaceuticals. I am passionate about bridging molecular science with real-world impact, especially in applications that advance human health.
My work focuses on the design, synthesis, and evaluation of novel chelators capable of securely housing radiometals for theranostic applications. I enjoy building new molecular tools with intention—solutions that aren’t just scientifically interesting, but clinically relevant and translatable.
From 3D printing to building miniature CNC and vacuum-forming systems, hands-on engineering has always shaped the way I think. These experiences trained me to rapidly deconstruct complex problems, prototype thoughtfully, and iterate with precision.
Beyond chemistry, I bring experience in hardware/software development, biomedical engineering, leadership, and teaching. This diversity allows me to communicate across disciplines, lead collaborative environments, and approach challenges from multiple viewpoints.
These experiences also reinforced the importance of organization, clarity, and rigorous documentation to ensure meaningful, reproducible science. I prioritize Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) principles, strong data integrity habits, and the development of clear SOPs to support consistency, repeatability, and accountability in research environments.
Outside of work, I enjoy team sports, outdoor exploration, and wildlife photography, which continually keep me inspired, grounded, and curious. Staying active and creative helps me bring balance, focus, and fresh perspective back into my scientific work.
Currently accepted manuscript. A culmination of the first portion of work in my Masters, excluding the biological studies.
Synthesized hydrogels from gelatin methacryloyl containing tungsten disulfide and silver doped tungsten disulfide and compared their applications in biosensing of glucose concentration. Researched and developed a methodlogy of glucose biosensing based off previous literature. Developed a standard concentration curve and characterized sensitivty using UV-Vis with application of the Beer-Lambert law.
Designed and implemented an NMR study of hydrogen bonding of glycine in a gelatin methacryloyl based hydrogels. This methodology was necessary in characterizing what interactions may play roles in the development of hydrogels and how drug loading of hydrogels can impact material qualities. Ultimately this work taught me various techniques and data interpretation using NMR characterization and how to communicate new ideas that had not been expressly trialed in chemical engineering literature. This work was done during my NSERC-USRA summer fellowship.
Responsible for initial benchtop experimentation into how droplet evaporation in electrospray ionization mass spectrometry can effect the pH and conditions felt by analytes and how that may impact observations. After working under an Undergraduate Student Fellowship, the work was carried on by future students and later published in Analytical Chemistry. This work gave me a thorough understanding of the inner works of ESI-MS and the development of my own benchtop experimental setups in bulk solutions that would best represent the atomistic system we aimed to study. I also derived a second order Henderson Hasselbalch derived equation which could be used to solve for the pH of a system given initial concentrations of multiple buffers which greatly increases the complexity of the original hassel-bach henderson equation.
Designing, prototyping, and producing functional lab components.
Building precise tooling and custom project hardware.
Device assembly, softward coding, repairs, and instrumentation prototyping.
Hands-on system upkeep, troubleshooting, and performance tuning. Rebuilt a Waters ACQUITY UPLC .
Experienced with IR, NMR, UV-Vis, Fluorescence, and Raman analysis & interpretation.
Proper handling and rebuilding of Welch pumps, lyopholizer, Bucchi rotovaps, shakers.
Safe handling of radioisotopically labeled substrates & controlled workflow execution.
Fumehood work, SOP adherence, & precise experimental execution including schlenk techniques.
Use of peptide synthesizers, automated columns & centrifuges.
Growth beyond the lab—community involvement, leadership, and passion projects that shape who I am.
