2021 Cohort

• Nina Allen (MSci)

  Graduated from Christ’s College, University of Cambridge in 2021. During her final year research project, she worked with Prof. David Spring investigating the reaction of 1,2,3-triazines with guanidines for use in the modification of arginine. In 2022 she joined the Galan group to work on DNA binding molecules which target G-quadruplex structures.
• Joshua Clarke (MSci)

  Graduated from the University of Bristol in 2021, having spent a year in industry. Josh spent his final year project working with Prof. Jonathan Clayden, investigating the synthesis and applications of photoswitchable molecules including azobenzenes, spiropyrans and dithienylethenes. During his industrial placement, he worked in the Component Science department at Lubrizol in Derby. The placement involved the optimisation of a process to manufacture a novel carboxylate-based detergent for use in fuel additives. In June 2022 he joined the Pringle group to work on the synthesis of multidentate phosphine ligands via hydrophosphination and explore their use as targeted radiopharmaceuticals.
• Patrick Daley-Dee (MChem)

  Graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2020. During his final year project, taking place as a year abroad at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, he worked on the synthesis of cyclodiphosphazane/NHC hybrid ligands under the supervision of Assistant Professor Felipe Garcia. In June 2022, he joined the Bedford group to work on iron-catalysed synthesis and applications of organoboronic esters.
• Max Deering (MChem)

  Graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021. During his time there he worked with Dr Sam Butterworth using in silico screening to evaluate ligand-peptide conjugates against a variety of protein targets identified as precipitating autoimmune disease. In June 2022, Max joined the Butts group.
• Sarah Eibenschutz (MSci)

  Graduated from the University of Bristol in 2018. For her final year project she worked for Prof. Matt Crump investigating the structure of IGF2R.  In 2017 she completed a summer placement at the ICR under the supervision of Prof. Julian Blagg where she worked to develop PROTACs as oncological treatments. In 2019 she joined Sygnature Discovery and worked there for 1 year and 10 months as a medicinal chemist. In June 2022 she joined the Collins group, where she is working on the deracemization of atropisomers.
• Calum Haydon (MSci)

  Graduated from the University of Bristol in 2020. For his final year project he worked with Prof. Chris Willis on the biosynthesis of maleidride natural products. This involved the synthesis of stabilised analogues of fulgenic anhydride biosynthetic precursors. These were then to be used for in vitro studies to probe key steps in the biosynthetic pathway. In 2019 he completed a summer placement with Dr Alistair Lennox, optimising the trifluoromethylation of aromatic esters as substrates for electrochemical defluorination. In June 2022 he joined the Galan group to work on the synthesis and evaluation of sugar-based probes for detection of tuberculosis infection.
• Xiyue Leng (MSci)

  Graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2021. Xiyue worked with Prof. Rachel O’Reilly in final year investigating the structure-property relationship between hydrophobicity and antimicrobial activity of AMP-mimetic polymers. During her industrial placement, Xiyue worked on the process optimization of silicone hydrogel contact lens raw materials at Cornelius Specialties in Suffolk. In June 2022, Xiyue joined the Clayden and Woolfson groups working on the de novo design of 310-helix based peptide assemblies using synthetic quaternary amino acids.
• Zhihang Li (MPhil)

  Graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2021. During his MPhil project he worked with Prof. Michele Vendruscolo towards affinity maturation of a single-domain antibody with non-canonical amino acids through chemical mutagenesis. Prior to this, Zhihang completed his undergraduate studies at Imperial College London in 2020 and he worked with Prof. Anthony Barrett towards synthesis of biaryl salicylates during his BSc project. In June 2022 he joined the Noble group to work on photoredox methodology.
• Hannah Mulliner (MChem)

  Graduated from Keele University in 2021. During her final year research project, she worked under the supervision of Dr Matthew O’Brien investigating the development of methodology towards the diastereoselective synthesis of 2,6-difuranyl tetrahydropyrans. In June 2022, Hannah joined the Willis Group.
• Nicholas Walker (MSci)

  Graduated from Imperial College London in 2021. In his final year project, Nicholas worked with Dr. Mark Crimmin computationally modelling heterometallic catalysts to investigate the origins of their selectivity for C-H activation. In the summers of 2020 and 2019, he worked with Prof. Alan Goldman at Rutgers University investigating reaction pathways of organometallic systems for nitrogen fixation. In June 2022 he joined the Fey group on a project focused on using data science methods and high throughput experimentation to map out catalyst properties and trends across ligand chemical space.