2017 Cohort

  • Joe Abell (MChem)
    Graduated from the University of Oxford in 2017. His final year project, supervised by Professor Dermot O’Hare, involved the synthesis of novel zirconium complexes bearing the permethylindenyl ligand and subsequent use of these as catalysts for ethylene polymerisation. In the summer of 2016, he undertook a placement at the Institute of Cancer Research with Professor Keith Jones, working on expanding the scope of a pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine synthesis.
  • Jess Cross (MSci)
    Graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2017. In her final year she was supervised by Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian using chemical methods to enable more sensitive and accurate quantification of DNA base modifications using mass spectrometry. In the summer of 2015 she completed a flow chemistry studentship with Professor Steve Ley at the University of Cambridge and in 2016 an internship in photoredox catalysis with Dr Anastasios Polyzos at the University of Melbourne.
  • Mark Deeprose (MChem)
    Graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2017. In his final year, Mark worked with Dr Ian O’Neil on the synthesis of chiral functionalised bicyclic morpholine β-turn mimetics and discovered a novel, acid catalysed rearrangement of a bicyclic enamine N-oxide.
  • Sayad Doobary (MSci)
    Graduated from the University of Bristol in 2017. His final year project involved synthesising ligands for the investigation into the structure and reactivity of low-coordinate copper complexes under the supervision of Dr. Chris Russell.
  • Rachel Doyle (MChem)
    Graduated from the University of St. Andrews. Rachel’s final year project focused on investigating the ability of the bis(acenaphthyl)-substituted stibine to act as a ligand under the supervision of Dr Petr Kilian. During her fourth year, she worked with Professor Russell Morris on the synthesis of zeolites for medical applications. In 2015, she completed a summer placement with Professor Sharon Ashbrook, studying metal-oxime complexes using Solid State NMR techniques.
  • Eliza Hunt (MChem)
    Graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2017. During her final year she worked under the supervision of Dr Ian O'Neil on the synthesis of chiral functionalised morpholines, which involved a tandem Cope elimination/ reverse Cope cyclisation onto alkynes as the key step. Throughout the summer of 2016 she carried out a placement at AstraZeneca where she gained valuable industrial experience while working on the development of a new route to a starting material for a COPD drug.
  • Luke Lewis-Borrell (MChem)
    Graduated from Newcastle University. His final year placement was with Professor Bernard Golding on bifurcated hydrogen bonding within urea and it’s derivatives. The main bulk of the project consisted of designing a new synthesis for labelled [18O]urea, for use in a microwave spectroscopy study. Luke also took part in a Royal Society of Chemistry summer placement, again with Professor Bernard Golding, doing a pilot study on the bifurcated hydrogen bonding work he would later do for his masters project.
  • Freddie Martin (MChem)
    Freddie graduated from the University of Bath in 2017. For his masters degree he worked in Simon Lewis' Lab on the functionalisation of azulene, resulting in the synthesis of an azulene based colorimetric molecular sensor for mercury in solution.
  • Sbusisiwe Mbatha (MChem)
    Graduated from the University of Leeds in 2016. During her final year project, she worked under the supervision of Dr Richard Foster on the optimisation of small molecule inhibitors of 5-HT1B as agents to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension.
  • Makenzie Millward (MSci)
    Graduated from the University of Nottingham, 2017. Her final year project was supervised by Thomas Mcinally joint with GlaxoSmithKline working in drug discovery, developing novel compounds for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. In 2016 she completed a summer placement at Nottingham with Dr Andrew Nortcliffe synthesising beta-sultam derivatives.
  • Ben Rowsell (MSci)
    Graduated from the University of Birmingham. Ben also went on a study year abroad where he studied at the University of Maryland. During his final year Ben undertook his masters project with Professor Simpkins working on the synthesis of the bicyclo[2.2.2]diazaoctane core via a Michael-Michael cascades. In the summer of 2016 he completed a summer research placement working with Dr. Grainger at the University of Birmingham.
  • Danny Van Eker (MChem)
    Graduated from Cardiff University in 2017. During his third year, he undertook a placement at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, working with Prof. Steven Fletcher where he developed inhibitors of the Mcl-1 oncoprotein and a method for the synthesis of substituted 3-hydroxybenzisoxazoles via the Mitsunobu reaction. In his final year, he worked in the lab of Prof. Rudolf Allemann on developing a semi-synthetic route to the antimalarial drug, (+)-artemisinin, facilitated by the enzyme amorpha-4,11-diene synthase (ADS).
  • Madelene Waldron (MSci)
    Graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2017. In her final year, she worked with Mr. Tom McInally on developing drug compounds for the treatment of Idiopathic Pulmonary fibrosis, in partnership with GSK. In her third year, from 2015-16, she carried out an industrial placement with RedX Oncology, synthesising drug compounds for treatment of various cancers.