Past Postgraduates:  

 

Hasanain Almohseni obtained his BS and Masters degrees from University of Kufa, Iraq. At Oxford, supported by The Higher Committe for Education Development (HECD) of Iraq, Hasanain was involved in natural product synthesis (4 papers and 1 review article).

 

Younes Fegheh-Hassanpour is a Queen Mary University of London graduate (first class honours), where he carried out research with Chris Jones. At Oxford, Younes was involved in natural product synthesis (3 papers).
Following his doctoral studies, Younes moved on to a synthetic chemistry position at Dextra Laboratories in Reading.

    

Aubert Ribaucourt studied at the Institut National des Sciences Appliquees (INSA) de Rouen, the University of Rouen, and completed industrial placements at Janssen-Cilag and Spirochem AG. At Oxford, Aubert's postgraduate research was supported by the EU through the Oxford Innovative Organic Synthesis in Cancer Research Doctoral Programme (OxIOSCR), and involved studies directed towards the synthesis of recently reported structurally novel anticancer natural products (2 papers and 1 review article). Following his studies at Oxford, Aubert has moved on to a postdoc with Josh Pierce at NC State University.  

   

Claire Mortimer obtained a first class honours degree from Edinburgh University, which included a year at GSK (Stevenage) and a research project with Alison Hulme. Claire's postgraduate research at Oxford, supported by an EPSRC Pharma studentship, was concerned with the development and application of new transformations of azacycles (3 papers). Claire was awarded a prize for her final-year talk at the Department's DPhil Symposium. Following her doctoral studies, Claire moved on to a synthetic chemistry position at BioFocus (Charles River Laboratories), Chesterford Research Park.

   

Chris Pearson is a Southampton graduate (first class honours), where he carried out research with Bruno Linclau and Richard Whitby. This was followed by 2 years as a synthetic chemist with Dextra Laboratories in Reading. At Oxford, Chris' research, in collaboration with AstraZeneca, involved aspects of small-ring heterocycle chemistry (3 papers). Chris was awarded a prize for his final-year talk at the Department's DPhil Symposium. Following his doctoral studies, Chris moved to a Senior Chemist position in discovery chemistry at Evotec.

  

Andrew Charlton obtained a first class honours degree from Edinburgh University, which included a year at GSK (Harlow) and a research project with Mike Greaney. Andrew's postgraduate research at Oxford, supported by an EPSRC Pharma studentship, was concerned with the development of new asymmetric transformations (2 papers and 1 review article). Andrew was awarded a prize from the Oxford Organic Chemistry Sub-Department, for excellence in the first year of postgraduate study. Following his studies in the Chemistry Research Laboratory, he moved to Colwiz in Oxford, as Digital Communications Manager.

 

Saifullah Salik studied chemistry at the University of Punjab, Pakistan. At Oxford, supported by an Overseas Scholarship from the HEC in Pakistan, Saifullah was involved in the development and application of new synthetic methodology (3 papers and 1 review article). Saifullah was awarded a prize at the annual Oxford Organic Chemistry Poster Session for second year postgraduates, sponsored by Pfizer. He is currently co-founder of, and a tutor at the Bristol Academy of Sciences.

 

Rosanne Persaud studied chemistry at the University of Guyana (vice-chancellor's award for best graduating student in the Faculty of Natural Sciences). This was followed by positions on the University of Guyana campus as a research chemist at the Institute of Applied Science and Technology, and as an assistant lecturer in Chemistry. For her master's research at Oxford, Rosanne was involved in the development of new synthetic methodology (2 papers). Rosanne is currently carrying out doctoral studies with Ray Andersen at UBC, Canada.

Eric Talbot studied at the Ecole Supérieure de Chimie Organique et Minérale (ESCOM), the University of Cergy-Pontoise and the École Polytechnique, and completed a years industrial placement at GSK (Stevenage). At Oxford, Eric's postgraduate research was supported by Eli LIlly, and involved studies directed towards the synthesis a recently reported structurally novel and bioactive natural product (3 papers). Eric was subsequently a NIBR Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow at Horsham with Dean Toste (Berkeley) as his academic mentor, then joined GSK at Stevenage, and is currently with Pharmaron in Hoddesdon.

Tanzeel Arif studied chemistry at the University of Punjab, Pakistan. At Oxford, supported by an Overseas Scholarship from the HEC in Pakistan, Tanzeel was involved in the development of new synthetic methodology and natural products synthesis (6 papers). Following postdoctoral studies in Hodgson group, and a brief academic appointment in Pakistan, Tanzeel carried out postdoctoral research with Willie Motherwell at UCL, Malik Nechab at Aix-Marseille University, and with Angela Marinetti at the l’Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles, Gif sur Yvette. Tanzeel is currently at the Ferrier Research Institute, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, working with work with Phillip Rendle.

     

Ruth Shelton is a Cambridge graduate (Gonville and Caius), where she conducted research on alkaloid synthesis in Martin Smith's group. Her studies at Oxford, in collaboration with AstraZeneca, involved a total synthesis of the structurally unusual and bioactive alkaloid peduncularine (2 papers). Ruth is currently training as a Patent Attorney in the Chemical & Life Sciences department of Venner Shipley, in Cambridge.

 

Johannes Kloesges obtained his first degree at Oxford, which included a final year project on aminohydroxylation with Tim Donohoe. His graduate studies, in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline, were mainly concerned with aziridines (5 papers). Johannes recently started a postdoc with Frank Glorius in Munster, Germany.

 

Steve Hughes studied chemistry at the University of Durham, where he obtained a first class honours degree and conducted research in David Parker's group. His research at Oxford, supported by an industrial CASE award with GlaxoSmithKline, involved aspects of new C-C bond forming reactions of aziridines (1 paper and 1 review article so far). Steve is currently working for Oxford Royale Academy at St. Catherine's College, Oxford.

 

Naeem Kaka is an Oxford graduate in chemistry from Corpus Christi College, and he carried out his Part II year of research in Prof Anderson's group. Naeem's postgraduate research was concerned with the development of new asymmetric transformations of epoxide-derived enamines (2 papers). In autumn 2009 he took up a position as a trainee actuary with Catlin Holdings in London.

 

Leonard Winning was involved in developing new heterocyclic chemistry and was awarded a Lilly Scholarship from the Oxford Organic Chemistry Sub-Department, in recognition of outstanding graduate work in his first year (2 papers and 1 review article). He is currently a chemistry teacher at Kingston Grammar School.

 

Philip Humphreys studied Biochemistry and Biological Chemistry at the University of Nottingham (first class honours), which included a final year project under the supervision of Chris Hayes. At Oxford, Phil researched aziridine chemistry supported by a CASE award with GlaxoSmithKline. Phil was awarded a Lilly Scholarship from the Oxford Organic Chemistry Sub-Department, in recognition of outstanding graduate work in his first year and was a prize winner at the 2005 Pfizer Poster Symposium and gained the prize for the best lecture at the 2006 SCI Fine Chemicals Group Regional (South) Graduate Symposium (5 papers and 3 review articles). Phil joined Larry Overman at UC Irvine as a Merck Sharp & Dohme Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Awardee in mid 2007 and recently accepted a Med Chem position with GSK, Stevenage. Phil won the 2017 EFMC Young Medicinal Chemist in Industry award.

 

Deepshikha Angrish obtained her undergraduate from University of Delhi, India and Masters from IIT, Delhi, India. At Oxford, supported by a Clarendon Fund Bursary, Deepshikha was involved in the development and application of new catalytic cascade reaction processes (6 papers). Following postdoctoral studies with Joseph O'Connor at San Diego, California, Deepshikha is currently with Paul Wentworth's group at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California.

 

Matthew Fleming is a graduate of King's College London (first class honours), and conducted research in Richard Graingers group. Matthew was involved at Oxford in developing new synthetic methodology, supported by an Industrial CASE award with GlaxoSmithKline (6 papers). Following a postdoc with Mark Lautens in Toronto, Matthew moved to Switzerland to work for Solvias in Basel, and is currently Project Leader Chemical Development with Siegfried AG in Zofingen.

 

Jack Chung studied Chemistry at Oxford (St John's College) and conducted a part II project on peptidomimetics in Prof. George Fleet's research group, under the supervision of Dr. John Jones. Following a year in industry (GSK) he returned to Oxford and, supported by a studentship with Rhodia, was involved in developing epoxide chemistry (3 papers). Jack was a prize winner at the 2004 Pfizer Poster Symposium in London and at Roche's 2005 symposium for leading chemists of the next decade. Following a Croucher Fellowship with Greg Fu at MIT, Jack is currently with the Molecular Catalysis Group at AIST in Japan

 

Hamad Al Mamari obtained his first degree from Sultan Qaboos University, Oman. After a year teaching he completed a masters degree at the University of California Santa Barbara, followed by two years teaching at Sultan Qaboos University. On leave from Sultan Qaboos University at Oxford, Hamad was involved in natural product synthesis (3 papers).

 

Chris Bray studied Chemistry at Oxford University, where he obtained a first class honours degree at Wadham College and conducted a part II project in Dr Hodgson's research group. As a T. C. Keeley Scholar of Wadham College his DPhil studies involved the development and application of new synthetic methodology supported by an Industrial CASE award with AstraZeneca (3 papers, 1 review article and 1 book chapter). Following a a postdoc with Gerry Pattenden, and a Teaching Fellowship in Organic Chemistry at Nottingham, Chris is joining the academic staff at the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary, University of London.

 

Shuji Hachisu studied Chemistry at Oxford University, where he obtained a first class honours degree at Balliol College and conducted a part II project in George Fleet's research group. His postgraduate research, supported by a CASE award with Pfizer, resulted in the synthesis of a number of kainoid natural products using new free radical processes (3 papers). Following a postdoctoral position with Samir Zard in Paris and then a medicinal chemistry position with GlaxoSmithKline, he is currently with Syngenta at Jealott's Hill.

 

Nigel Reynolds is a graduate of the University of Wales at Swansea (first class honours), which included a year in process research with Glaxo Wellcome. Following a period with SmithKline Beecham in combinatorial chemistry, Nigel was involved at Oxford in developing new synthetic methodology, supported by a CASE award with GlaxoSmithKline (4 papers). On leaving Oxford Nigel worked as a chemist with BioFocus Discovery before moving into pharmaceutical regulatory affairs with Mundipharma Research Ltd in Cambridge.

 

Debbie Selden studied chemistry at Oxford (Merton College), spent periods of research at Astra (Charnwood) and carried out her part II year investigations with Mark Moloney. Her DPhil research, supported by an industrial CASE award with Astra Zeneca, involved aspects of catalyst design and asymmetric cycloaddition methodology (2 papers and one book chapter) and subsequently took up a patent attorney position at W. H. Beck Greener & Co. in London.

  

Mathew Jones is an Oxford graduate in chemistry from Pembroke College, and he carried out his Part II year of research in Dr Hodgson's group. Following a DPhil in free-radical based methodology, supported by an EPSRC earmarked studentship - CASE collaboration with Evotec-OAI (two papers), Matthew is currently a synthetic chemist with Eli Lilly.

 

Tim Miles graduated from the University of Durham where he studied in Patrick Steel's and David Parker's laboratories and also conducted research at Rhône-Poulenc Rorer. His investigations at Oxford were concerned with new routes to amino alcohols and was supported by an EPSRC earmarked studentship in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline (six papers). Tim is currently a research chemist with GSK.

 

Matthew Stent is a graduate of the University of Bristol (first class honours), which included a year with SmithKline Beecham and research in Roger Alder's group. Supported by a CASE award with Roche, he developed new, asymmetric routes to diols (six papers, one patent and one book chapter). Following a postdoc in Phil Magnus' group in Texas, Matthew worked at Key Organics at Cornwall and is currently Head of Project Management - CRAMS at Navin Fluorine International Ltd, based in Cheshire.

 

Magnus Bebbington studied chemistry at the University of Durham, where he obtained a first class honours degree and conducted research in Richard Chambers group. At Oxford, he investigated new radical rearrangement methodology to synthetically interesting and biologically important heterocycles, supported by an Industrial CASE award with AstraZeneca (three papers). Magnus was then a postdoc in Steven Weinreb's group in the USA and, following a Marie Curie Fellowship with Guy Bertrand at Université Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, is now a lecturer in chemistry at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. 

 

Herman Sintim is a graduate of UCL (first class honours), and conducted research at SmithKline Beecham. At Oxford, supported by an ORS award, Herman was involved in natural product synthesis (5 papers). During his DPhil studies Herman won the Pfizer Poster Symposium in London, the first European award from innovation.com and was overall winner at Roche's 2002 symposium for leading chemists of the next decade. Following a position at Evotec.OAI and postdocs with Tim Donohoe in the CRL at Oxford and Eric Kool at Stanford, and a faculty professorship at the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Maryland, Herman is currently an endowed professor of drug discovery at Purdue University.

 

Rebecca Glen obtained a first class honours degree from the University of Sheffield, which included a year's industrial placement at Kodak and a research project with Alan Spivey. At Oxford, supported by a CASE award with GlaxoSmithKline, she investigated asymmetric cycloaddition chemistry (five papers). Following postdoctoral research in Alois Fürstner's group in Germany, Rebecca is currently a chemist with Peakdale Molecular.

    

Carol Villalonga-Barber is a graduate of the University of Barcelona in Spain, and completed an MSc in Chemical Research (with distinction) at UCL with Paul Wyatt. At Oxford she was involved in natural product synthesis (three papers). Following postdoctoral studies at Imperial College, Carol worked at the Institute of Organic and Pharmaceutical Chemistry (National Hellenic Research Foundation) in Athens, Greece, and then at the Sussex Drug Discovery Centre at the University of Sussex. Carol is currently a Scientific Freelance Editor at Cactus Communications. 

    

Iain Cameron obtained a first class honours degree from Strathclyde University, which included one year at Glaxo Wellcome and a research project with Billy Kerr. Iain's work at Oxford, supported by a CASE award with Rhône -Poulenc Rorer, involved aspects of epoxide desymmetrisation chemistry (three papers and one patent). Following a position with Salford Ultrafine Chemicals as a senior synthetic organic chemist, he is currently with AstraZeneca.

 

Chris Maxwell was an undergraduate at Leeds University where he obtained a first class honours degree, which included an industrial placement year at Pfizer. As a D Phil student in Dr Hodgson's group, supported by a CASE award with Zeneca Agrochemicals, he developed new, asymmetric methodology to nitrogen heterocycles, including analogs of the potent analgesic epibatidine (seven papers and one patent). Following a stint at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and at Cambridge Antibody Technology he now runs his own health and safety consultancy company.

 

Paul Stupple studied Chemistry at Oxford University, where he obtained a first class honours degree at Hertford College and was awarded the Brian Bannister Prize for his Part II year of research with Dr J. Robertson. As a Jubilee Scholar of St. Hugh's College, he received his D Phil under the supervision of Dr. Hodgson, supported by Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, with a thesis entitled 'catalytic enantioselective carbonyl ylide formation-cycloaddition' (four papers and two review articles). Following a position as a medicinal research chemist at Pfizer in Kent, he moved as Group Leader for Cancer Therapeutics CRC, at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Australia.

   

Anne Foley obtained a first-class honours degree from the University of Sunderland, which included an industrial placement year with Marion Merrell Dow. Following a year with Fisons she joined Dr Hodgson's group at Oxford, supported by an industrial CASE award with SmithKline Beecham. Anne investigated new aspects of ring-closing metathesis selectivity, improved synthetic processes to vinylstannanes and completed a formal synthesis of periplanone B (three papers). She is currently a medicinal chemist with Celltech.

 

Alison Thompson studied at Nottingham University and, following periods of research at Bayer and British Biotech, joined Dr Hodgson's group at Oxford as a CASE student with Glaxo Wellcome. Alison developed asymmetric approaches to a-amino acids (three papers) and is currently with Syngenta at Jealott's Hill.

 

Andy Gibbs studied as an undergraduate at Reading University and also in Dr Hodgson's research group. As a postgraduate at Reading and Oxford, Andy examined the development and application of new asymmetric routes to allylic alcohols which included syntheses of iridomyrmecin, and prostaglandin intermediates (four papers as the sole experimental contributor and one review article). Andy then moved to the Lawrence Livermore laboratories in Berkeley, California. 

   

James Bailey obtained a first-class honours degree in chemistry at Salford University which included an industrial placement at Eli Lilly and research in John Leonard's group. At Reading and Oxford, supported by a SERC earmarked studentship - CASE collaboration with Merck Sharp & Dohme, James initiated studies towards the structurally challenging and biologically significant zaragozic acid class of natural products (two papers). Following a postdoctoral position with Phil Magnus in Texas and research with Eli Lilly in the USA and then with GlaxoSmithKline at Stevenage, he is currently Partnership Solutions Manager at Covalence.

   

Gary Lee obtained his first degree at Reading University, which included a period of research in Phil Parsons' group. With Dr Hodgson at Reading and Oxford, supported by the LINK Asymmetric Synthesis scheme, he studied new enantioselective desymmetrisation methodology (four papers and one review article) and became a medicinal chemist at Purdue Pharma in New Jersey, and is now with Amicus Therapeutics.

 

Paul Comina joined Dr Hodgson's group at Reading from Bath University, where as part of his degree course he spent a year at Dow-Elanco and also conducted research on asymmetric epoxidation in Alan Armstrong's group. During Paul's postgraduate research at Reading and Oxford, supported by a SERC earmarked studentship, he made a number of contributions in organochromium and silicon chemistry resulting in five papers, as the sole experimental contributor, and one book chapter. Following a Royal Society Postdoctoral Fellowship with Dieter Seebach at the ETH, Switzerland he returned to the UK as a Leverhulme Trust fellow in Doug Philp's group at Birmingham and held a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, first at Birmingham and then at Reading.

 

Lee Boulton obtained a first class honours degree in chemistry at Reading University. He was a CASE student with Pfizer in Dr Hodgson's group. Lee developed new methodology to vinylstannanes and examined applications of the chemistry in a novel approach to biologically important unsaturated medium rings. This work resulted in four papers (three with Lee as the sole experimental contributor) and one book chapter. Following a postdoctoral position with KC Nicolaou at Scripps in the USA he accepted a position at Parke-Davis Neuroscience Research Centre in Cambridge. In 1999, Lee moved to Dowpharma (formerly Chirotech Technology Limited) and then in 2006 joined GSK working in Chemical Development at their Stevenage site.

 

Jason Witherington is a graduate of Reading University. As Dr Hodgson's first PhD student (supported by a CASE award with AgrEvo at Chesterford Park, Saffron Walden), he initiated studies in novel enantioselective epoxide desymmetrisation chemistry, completed a concise asymmetric approach to anti-HIV agents such as carbovir, and developed a new cross-coupling approach to the agrochemically important b-methoxyacrylate toxophore. The work resulted in five papers (four as the sole experimental contributor) and two patents. Following a postdoctoral position with Ralph Hirschmann and Amos Smith III in the USA he returned to England as a medicinal research chemist and is currently with GlaxoSmithKline at Stevenage.

 

 

Past Postdocs:

  

Elena Moreno Clavijo studied Chemistry at the University of Seville, obtaining her PhD (sobresaliente cum laude) in Organic Chemistry under the supervision of Profs. Robina, Carmona and Moreno-Vargas. Elena was subsequently appointed as an assistant in the Department of Organic Chemistry at Seville in the group of Prof. Robina. At Oxford, supported by University of Seville funding, her research involved the development of ylide-based transformations and applications in bioactive target synthesis (2 papers).

 

Stanislav Man was educated at Masaryk University, Brno, in the Czech Republic, where he obtained his doctorate with Milan Potacek. At Oxford, supported by a Marie Curie Fellowship, his research involved the development and applications of new synthetic methodology (3 papers).  He is currently working as a research chemist for Zentiva in Prague.

 

Gareth Brace is a graduate of Bath University (first class honours), where he also completed his doctorate with Mike Willis on Pd catalysed C-N bond formation. Supported by an EPSRC fellowship at Oxford, Gareth worked on aspects of synthetic methodology. He is currently a synthetic chemist with Evotec.

 

Zhaoqing Xu obtained his doctorate from Lanzhou University, China under the supervision of Rui Wang. His postdoctoral studies at Oxford were supported by a Royal Society International Fellowship (3 papers). Following postdoctoral studies in Germany, and with Ei-ichi Negishi's group at Purdue, Zhaoqing is currently at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in China.

 

Anne Valade obtained her DEA from the University of Paris-Sud, Orsay and her PhD from the same institution with Jean-Marie Beau. Her research at Oxford, supported by a Marie Curie Fellowship, concerned natural product synthesis (2 papers). Anne joined UCB Pharma in Brussels on completion of her Fellowship and was runner up for the 2016 EFMC Young Medicinal Chemist in Industry award.

 

Steven Miles obtained his M.Chem. at Southampton University (1st class hons.) and his Ph.D. from Imperial College London, where he worked with Steve Marsden and Robin Leatherbarrow and Bill Coates from GlaxoSmithKline on the synthesis of bio-active molecules incorporating olefin metathesis. His research at Oxford, supported by an EPSRC fellowship, concerned aspects of epoxide chemistry (3 papers). Steven then moved to the University of Manchester to undertake medicinal chemistry research initially in the School of Chemistry and currently in the School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences.

 

Changxue Lin obtained his doctorate from Tsinghua University, China under the supervision of Yufen Zhao. His postdoctoral studies at Oxford (1 paper) were supported by a Royal Society Sino-British Fellowship Trust Award. Following a postdoc with Martin Wills at Warwick Changxue accepted a position with Novartis in China.

 

Krystyna Kulikiewicz was educated at the University of Lodz, Poland where she obtained her doctorate with Jan Epsztain. This was followed by post-doctoral studies with Charles Mioskowski in France. At Oxford, supported by a Marie Curie Fellowship, her research involved the development and applications of new synthetic methodology (1 paper).

 

Jean-Marie Galano obtained his DEA (with honours) and his PhD under the supervision of Honoré Monti at Université d'Aix-Marseille III. His research at Oxford concerned the development and application of new synthetic methodology (3 papers so far). In September 2005 he joined the 'Laboratoire de Chimie Biomoléculaire et Interactions Biologiques', Université Montpellier 1, as 'Chargé de Recherche' for the CNRS.

 

Bogdan Stefane was educated at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, where he obtained his doctorate with Slovenko Polanc. On leave from Ljubljana at Oxford, and supported by a Marie Curie Fellowship, Bogdan studied new chemistry of aziridines (three papers).

 

Frederic Le Strat obtained his DEA and his PhD under the supervision of Jacques Maddaluno at the University of Rouen, France. His work at Oxford, supported by a Leverhulme Trust fellowship, involved the development and application of enantioselective cycloaddition methodology (two papers). He is currently a postdoc at the faculty of pharmacy of the University of Paris XI (France).

 

María Ángeles Expósito Castro obtained her first degree from the University of Santiago de Compostela and her PhD (Sobresaliente Cum Laude), on the Isolation, Structural Determination and Synthesis of Minalemines, from the University of Vigo (Spain) under the supervision of Prof. Iglesias Randulfe. Her research at Oxford concerned asymmetric catalysis (one paper). María is currently working for Neuropharma in Madrid.

 

Eirene Kirton was undergraduate at St Andrews (first class honours) and conducted postgraduate research (with Robert Field) at St Andrews and UEA in the general area of supported catalysis for asymmetric synthesis. Her research at Oxford, supported by an EPSRC fellowship, concerned aspects of epoxide chemistry (3 papers). Eirene is currently a postdoc with Barry Lygo at Nottingham.

 

Agnès Labande obtained her DEA (with distinction) from University at Marseilles and her PhD from the University of Bordeaux with Didier Astruc. Her research at Oxford, supported by a Marie Curie Fellowship, concerned asymmetric catalysis (6 papers). Agnès is currently 'Chargé de Recherche' for the CNRS at the 'Laboratoire de Chimie de Coordination', Université Paul Sabatier, in Toulouse.

 

Edyta Paruch was educated in Wroclaw, Poland where she obtained her doctorate in the synthesis of terpenoid lactones with Czeslaw Wawrzenczyk. On leave from Wroclaw at Oxford, and supported by a Marie Curie Fellowship, her research involved the development and applications of new enantioselective transformations (three papers).

 

Emmanuel Gras studied at the University of Orléans and then at the University of Paris-Orsay. His doctoral studies, towards the synthesis of galanthamine, were conducted under the supervision of Dr C. Thal at the 'Institut de Chimie des Substances Naturelles' in Gif-sur-Yvette. He carried out postdoctoral studies on new asymmetric syntheses of epoxides in the Hodgson group (2 papers, 1 review article, 1 patent and 1 book chapter). In November 2002 he joined the 'Laboratoire de Synthèse et Physicochimie de Molécules d'Intéret Biologique', Université Paul Sabatier, in Toulouse as 'Chargé de Recherche' for the CNRS.

 

Tom Avery obtained his undergraduate degree (first class honours) and postgraduate degree (with Dennis Taylor on asymmetric ylide-based cyclopropanations) at The University of Adelaide, Australia. His work at Oxford, supported by a Leverhulme Trust fellowship, involved the development and application of enantioselective cycloaddition methodology (two papers). Tom is currently a postdoc at The University of Adelaide.

 

Martin Christlieb obtained his undergraduate (first class honours) and postgraduate (with Stuart Warren) degrees at Cambridge. Following a post-doctoral position with Barry Trost at Stanford, he was involved in developing new asymmetric processes at Oxford (three papers), supported by an EPSRC fellowship. He is currently working in Jon Dilworth's laboratories in the CRL at Oxford.

 

Margarita Petroliagi was educated in Athens, Greece where she obtained her doctorate on the synthesis of optically active five-membered heterocycles with Olga Igglessi Markopoulou. Following postdoctoral studies at Oxford concerning new catalysts in asymmetric transformations (one paper), she is currently a research chemist with Medichrom s.a., Greece.

 

Stephanie Norsikian obtained her DEA (Cum Laude) from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris and her PhD from the same institution concerning enantioselective carbolithiation of olefins with Jean Normant. Following postdoctoral studies in Dr Hodgson's group (2 papers and 1 patent) she returned to France and carried out postdoc work with Gerald Guillaumet in Orleans and then Henri Kagan at Orsay. In October 2002 Stephanie became Chargée de Recherche (CNRS) within the 'Laboratoire de Chimie Organique Multifonctionnelle' of André Lubineau, Orsay.

 

Françoise Pierard studied Chemistry for her first degree at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium. She received her D. Phil. degree at same institute in the field of [2+2] cycloadditions under the direction of Leon Ghosez. Following postdoctoral studies in research group of Dr. Hodgson on asymmetric ylide cycloaddition chemistry (three papers and one review article), she joined Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

 

Andrew Donohue obtained his undergraduate degree (first class honours) and postgraduate degree (with Roy Jackson on the enantioselective synthesis of amino alcohols and acids) at Monash University, Australia. As a Leverhulme Trust fellow at Oxford he was involved in natural product synthesis (two papers). Following this Andrew joined the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research and in January 2004 joined start-up company Chirogen Pty Ltd as head of the synthetic chemistry group until their cessation of research in 2005. He is currently in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

 

Lesley Robinson studied Chemistry and Biochemistry at Southampton University (double first class honours); this was followed by industrial research at Pfizer and a PhD from Cambridge (with Steve Ley). As a post-doctoral fellow in the Hodgson group, Lesley developed new processes for the asymmetric synthesis of ketones and the indolizidine skeleton (three papers). Following further postdoctoral studies (with Andreas Pfaltz in Switzerland), she joined AstraZeneca and is currently with GlaxoSmithKline in Stevenage.

 

Robert Marriott obtained his undergraduate (first class honours) and postgraduate (with Tony Kirby) degrees at Cambridge. Following a Royal Society post-doctoral fellowship with Nico Speckamp, he conducted research in the Hodgson group on the mechanisms of epoxide transformations (three papers) and subsequently joined Unilever Research.

 

Richard Wisedale was an undergraduate at the University of Bath (first class honours) and obtained his PhD from Bristol University with Tim Gallagher. As an EPSRC post-doctoral fellow in Dr Hodgson's group he investigated enantioselective desymmetrisations of bicycloalkene oxides (three papers), before joining Zeneca Process Development in Bristol. He is currently with AstraZeneca in Cheshire.

  

  

Past Oxford undergraduate ("Part II") students:

  

Jean-Philippe (”JP”) Pollonais (Christ Church) was involved in the synthesis of new ligands for asymmetric transformations.

Ben Le Neve-Foster (Brasenose) was involved in the synthesis of azacycles for asymmetric transformations (one paper).

Matthew Stammers (St Peter's) was involved in the development of new lactone chemistry for application in the asymmetric synthesis of natural products.

Sophie Day (Brasenose) studied cascade rearrangement chemistry in the context of new anti-HIV agents (one paper).

Charmaine Yap (Somerville) carried out studies in natural products synthesis.

Jade Powell (St Peter's) was involved in the development and application of new ylide-based chemistry towards bioactive natural products, before moving to postgraduate studies with John Moses in Nottingham (one paper).

Becky Lowe (St Hilda's) researched new alkene-forming methodology directed towards a bioactive natural product.

Tom MacMillan (Keble) was involved in the development and application of new asymmetric ylide-based chemistry towards anti-HIV agents.

Sarah Little (St Hilda's) researched new synthetic methodology toward azacycles.

Caroline Lee (Somerville) completed the total synthesis of a bioactive natural product (one paper).

Ashleigh Ruxton (St Hildas) researched new synthetic methodology to make small heterocyclic systems.

Stephanie Erickson (Trinity) was involved natural product synthesis (one paper).

Thomas Moss (Somerville) developed a new synthetic strategy to a bioactive azabicyclic natural product (one paper). Following graduate study with Darren Dixon, Tom is currently a postdoc at Imperial College.

David Harling (Brasenose) was involved in developing a new synthetic strategy towards a bioactive polycyclic natural product (one paper).

Fatima Maktari (Somerville) studied the synthesis of a bioactive polycylic natural product. She is currently working in Public Relations at Porter Novelli.

Chris Brierley (New) was involved in developing new chemistry of aziridines (one paper). He is currently a qualified chartered accountant working for a small practice in central London.

Leonard Winning (St John's) was involved in developing new cascade reaction processes (one paper). Leonard completed a D Phil in Prof Hodgson's group.

Tim Buxton (Balliol) was involved in developing new chemistry of epoxides (one paper), and is currently employed in wine making with Matthew Clark plc., Bristol.

Chris Bray (Wadham) followed his part I studies with a period of research at Degussa in Germany. For his part II studies he was involved in the synthesis of new ligands and their examination in selected organic transformations. Chris completed a D Phil in Dr Hodgson's group.

Laura Mace (Christ Church) studied isomerisations of organosilicon compounds (one paper) before taking up a PhD position with Tim Donohoe at Oxford.

Sarah Barker (St John's) examined applications of iminium ion cyclisation chemistry towards synthetically challenging and biologically important natural product targets (one paper) before carrying out a D Phil in George Fleet's group.

Matthew Jones (Pembroke) studied novel rearrangements of epoxides to ketones (one paper) and, following a year in Industry, completed a D Phil in Dr Hodgson's group.

Chris Seward (Jesus) conducted synthetic studies towards azabicyclic systems (for which he was awarded a part II prize) before carrying out a D Phil with Tony Fairbanks.

Julian Moran (St. John's) examined approaches to biologically active heterocycles before joining Price Waterhouse.

Rebecca Green (Somerville) studied asymmetric rearrangements of medium-sized cycloalkene oxides (one paper). Following her part II, she completed a PhD with Jon Williams at Bath University before joining Tocris Cookson in Bristol.

  

  

Past Visiting Postgraduate students:

 

Asma Kurshid is a graduate student at Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan. In June 2015, as a part of her PhD and supported by a Higher Education Commission of Pakistan International Research Support Initiative research fellowship, she moved to Oxford to investigate new tropane chemistry (1 paper).   

Heinrich Rudy is a graduate from Ludwig‑Maximilians University Munich, where he completed his Masters thesis with Anja Hoffmann-Roder on the synthesis of modified amino acids and glycoconjugates. At Oxford, and prior to returning to LMU as a graduate student in 2015, Heinrich was supported by an Erasmus+ Fellowship, and worked on developing epoxide and tropane chemistry (1 paper). 

Iram Batool is a graduate student at Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan. In June 2013, as a part of her PhD and supported by a Higher Education Commission of Pakistan International Research Support Initiative research fellowship, she moved to Oxford to investigate new asymmetric transformations.

Madiha Kazmi is a graduate student at Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan. In June 2013, as a part of her PhD and supported by a Higher Education Commission of Pakistan International Research Support Initiative research fellowship, she moved to Oxford to study aspects of small-ring heterocycle chemistry (1 paper).

Serdar Sezer was a PhD student at the Middle East Technical University, Turkey. In 2010, as a part of his PhD, he moved to Oxford to investigate asymmetric cascade reactions and natural product synthesis (1 paper).

Irene Nuzzo was a PhD student with Saverio Florio at the Università di Bari, Italy. In late 2005 as a part of her PhD, she moved to Oxford and was involved in developing applications of new epoxide chemistry in natural product synthesis (1 paper).

Gloria Freixas was a PhD student at the Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. In 2005 as a part of her PhD, she moved to Oxford to investigate new synthetic methodology with epoxides (1 paper).

  

  

Past Summer students:

   

Chris Hall (Oriel), supported by an Oriel Chemistry Undergraduate Summer Research Bursary, was involved in developing epoxide chemistry.

Ziga Perko (St John's), supported by a prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry/Nuffield undergraduate research bursary Award, was involved in the development and application of new selective ylide-based chemistry towards anti-HIV agents (1 paper).

Minxiang (Glenn) Zeng (University of Science and Technology of China), supported by the Chinese Scholarship Council and through an MPLS Student Vacation Project Programme, researched new alkene-forming methodology directed towards a bioactive natural product (1 paper).