PhD Students

Harry Shirley 

Harry graduated from The University of Nottingham in 2011 with a 2.1 MSci (Hons) in Chemistry.  In his final year at Nottingham he worked towards a novel glycosylation  method under the supervision of Dr. Jason Camp. His PhD project involved the total synthesis of  marine sesterterpenoid natural products (1 Paper so far).  Harry is currently a post-doc for Prof Margaret Brimble (Auckland).

Geoffrey Smith 

Geoffrey graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2011 with a 2.1 MSci (Hons) in Chemistry.  He completed his final year project working on new aspects of the Stetter Reaction under the supervision of Prof. Simon Woodward. His PhD project concerned the development of new sulfur chemistry with funding from the EPSRC and CASE sponsorship from Syngenta (2 papers so far). He is now a Medicinal Chemistry with Charles River Laboratories.

Siobhán Hackett

Siobhán graduated in 2010 from Trinity College Dublin with a B.A. (First Class in Medicinal Chemistry). In her final year, she conducted a three month research project at the University of Liverpool under the supervision of Prof. Paul O’Neill, developing antimalarial drugs.  Funded by a College Graduate Teaching Scholarship, Siobhán’s PhD involves the development of novel environmentally friendly  synthetic transformations of cyclopropanes (1 paper so far).  Siobhán is currently working at the RSC as a sub-editor for chemistry journals.

 Fabrizio Minicone

A graduate of the University Milan, Fabrizio gained his Laurea Triennale (BSc) and Laurea Specialistica (MSc) both with First Class marks in 2006 and 2009 respectively.  He conducted a research project in the Department of Industrial and Organic Chemistry under the guidance of Prof. Bruno Danieli and Dr. Alessandro Sacchetti concerned with the synthesis of some of the rutacea alkaloids.  Funded by an EPSRC project grant, Fabrizio’s  research involved the development of new synthetic methodology and natural product synthesis (2 papers so far). Fabrizio is currently a post-doc at the Institure of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Kings College, London).

Nicky Willis

Nicky graduated from the University of Manchester with an M.Chem (2:1, Chemistry with Industrial Experience) in 2009.  During his third year as an undergraduate, he undertook a twelve month placement at Piramal Healthcare UK (Huddersfield).  After graduating, he spent 3 month working as a research assistant at Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada) concentrating on computation design of TACE inhibitors.  Funded by an EPSRC Project Grant, his PhD project aimed to develop a total synthesis of a spiroketal containing natural product.  After a brief spell in industry, Nicky is now a post-doc with Prof Angela Russel (Oxford),

Post-docs

Nicolas Cheval

Nicolas graduated from the University of Strasbourg in 2009 during which time he conducted an undergraduate research project on isoprenoid biosynthesis substrates analogs under the supervision of Prof. M. Rohmer. He completed his PhD from the University of Strasbourg in 2013 under the supervision of Profs. P. Pale & J.-M. Weibel. Funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR), his PhD project involved the synthesis of alkyne metathesis substrates with organic electronics applications, and the development of vinyl/aryl nosylates as new electrophilic partners in palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. He then took up a research assistant position in Lille under the supervision of Drs. C. Rolando & M. Penhoat, working on photochemically-induced 2+2 cycloadditions by UV (or visible light) LEDs in a continuous-flow micro reactor and on gem-bromofluoroalkene synthetic methodology. He then joined in July 2014 the Bray group at the Queen Mary University of London as a post-doctoral research assistant, working on the synthesis of small boron derivatives.  Nicholas is currently working for AstraZeneca.

MSc, MSci and Summer Project Students