Dr Jeff Walton

Jeff was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife in 1977. He graduated from Heriot-Watt University in 2000 with a BSc in Chemistry. He then moved to the University of Manchester to obtain his PhD working under Prof. Patrick Bailey, studying aza-Diels-Alder methodology and total syntheses. Upon completing his PhD, he then undertook a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr Simon Webb at UMIST, working on designing novel surfactants for crystallising membrane bound proteins. In 2006 he joined Dr Nick Westwood’s group at St Andrews University, designing inhibitors for Trypanothione reductase and Toxoplasma Gondii. At the start of 2008 he moved to Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals to take up a position as a medicinal chemist, before joining Prof. Mark Bradley’s group at the end of that year to work on the ITI project. He has also gained experience working at Fermentech Ltd, BP and the James Black Foundation.

In his spare time Jeff enjoys playing football and baseball, and spending as much time as he can with his family.

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Dr Ferdous Khan

Ferdous joint the group in March 2006 after a postdoctoral fellow at Carleton University ( Canada ). He studied the “Structure / morphology and properties of polymers, smart materials and composites, solvent-induced crystallization / phase separation, polymer blends, Influence of supercritical fluids on the properties of polymers, and computational modelling” during his fellowship at Carleton. In 1999, he earned his PhD degree from Cranfield University (UK) in the area of polymer science. He received his post-secondary education from Dhaka University in Bangladesh. Currently, he is investigating the “Polymeric Vehicles for Cellular Delivery and Gene Therapy” mainly based on biodegradable polymer and stem cells.

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Dr Nicos Avlonitis

Nicos was born in 1973 in Piraeus, Greece. He completed his BSc in Chemistry at the University of Thessaloniki. After completing his national service he joined the Institute of Organic and Pharmaceutical Chemistry (IOPC) of the National Hellenic Research Foundation in 1999 to undertake postgraduate studies under the supervision of Dr T. Calogeropoulou. He obtained his MSc (2001) in Medicinal chemistry (where he worked on the design and synthesis of ether phospholipids with antileishmanial activity) and then obtained his PhD in 2006 (where he worked on the design and synthesis of neuroactive steroids). In November 2006 he accepted a post-doctoral position at the University of St Andrews, with Dr S. Conway, where he worked on the synthesis of “caged” capsaicin derivatives and the “caged” mitochondrial uncoupler AG10. In 2008, he returned to IOPC as a research associate and his main research interests were focused on the synthesis of biologically active molecules, the development of selective molecular probes for biological systems and the development and the application of novel methodologies in organic synthesis. In early 2009 he joined the MRC/Centre of Inflammation Research and Prof. Bradley’s Group as a postdoctoral researcher, where he works on the synthesis of chemical probes for in vivo molecular imaging.  

A full list of Nicos' publications can be found here

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Dr Mike Swift

Mike was born and raised in central Scotland. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Dundee in Biological Chemistry (graduated 2005) and his Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Glasgow (graduated 2009). During his Ph.D. Mike worked on development of new rearrangement methodologies for natural product synthesis under the supervision of Dr Andrew Sutherland.

Mike joined the Bradley group in November 2008 and is currently working alongside JuanJo on a Scottish Enterprise Proof of Concept project.

In his spare time, Mike enjoys many sports, playing guitar and reading.

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Dr Mazen Sleiman

Mazen was born in beirut (Lebanon) in 1979.  He graduated from the Faculty of Sciences at the Lebanese University in 2002 with a Bsc in Chemistry. Then he moved to Lyon, France in 2002 to finish his master's under the supervision of Pr Helene Parrto Lopez working on amphiphilic cyclodextrins. After that he worked on his PhD where he joined the group of Prof. Marc Gingras in Nice for a year and a half and Pr Peter Goekjian in Lyon for another year and a half working on the synthesis and the evaluation of Polysulfurated Glycoligands.

In 2007 he joined the group of Dr Anne Imberty at the CERMAV (Grenoble) to test my ligands on lectins for a period of two months. After he finished his PhD,  he joined the group of Dr Maria Screttas in 2008 at the NHRF in Athens (Greece) working on dendrimer synthesis.

In his spare time he enjoys reading, running, swimming and working out from time to time.

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Dr Rong Zhang

Rong Zhang (Li-zhong Zhang) was born in Chongqing, China. He graduated from the Sichuan University in polymer chemistry and engineering in 1992. He obtained his M.Sc degree from the Chengdu Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1995, and then he worked until 2000. In 2003, Rong earned his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from Sheffield University in the area of the conducting polymer composites, under the Supervision of Professor Peter V. Wright. Since then he was employed as a postdoc in the same department. He joined Professor Bradley group in 2006. His project is mainly about the developing biocompatible polymer micro-arrays for cellular growth and release with applied stimuli.

In his spare time he likes hiking, playing badminton, reading, talking and playing games with his daughter.

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Dr Sunay V. Chankeshwara

Sunay was born in 1981 (India) and started to study chemistry in 2002 at the Department of Medicinal Chemistry, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), India. He earned his M. S. (Dec. 2003) and Ph.D (Dec. 2008) in Medicinal Chemistry under the tutelage of Prof. Asit K. Chakraborti.  During doctoral research he also worked on project involving synthesis of Phosphodiestrase-4 Inhibitors as Anti–Asthma Agents, which was co-sponsored by Department of Science and Technology (Govt. of India) and Ranbaxy Research Laboratories (RRL, Gurgaon) under Industry Academia Joint Programme. In February 2009, Sunay joined Prof. Mark Bradley’s Group as Ubiquitin Proteasome System Programme Research fellow. In his spare time he enjoys playing Cricket, Badminton and traveling.

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Dr Emma Johansson

Emma Johansson obtained her MSc in Chemistry at Gothenburg University (Sweden) in 2003 and her PhD at the University of Bern (Switzerland) in 2008. She joined Professor Mark Bradley's group in 2009, receiving a Swiss National Science Foundation Research Fellowship followed by a Novartis Foundation Research Fellowship. Her research within the group is focused on the efficient delivery of therapeutic molecules, materials and biomolecules into cells for the analysis of cellular function and for the development of novel therapeutic applications.

In her spare time she enjoys reading, eating out and hiking on top of really high mountains.

A full list of Emma's publications can be found here.

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Dr Zhiqiang Jiang

Zhiqiang Jiang was born in Yixing, China. He started to study Polymer Chemistry and Physics in 1997 at Beijing University of Technology and Business. He finished his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from Chengdu Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Jul 2007 on biodegradable and thermo-responsive hydrogel, under the supervision of Prof. Xianmo Deng and Prof. Jianyuan Hao. Afer that he worked as a postdoc at Ningbo Institute of Material Technology and Engineering (NIMTE, CAS) under direction of Prof. Yuzhong Wang and Prof. Qun Gu. He joined the Bradley Group in 2011 to work on Polymer Microarray.
In his spare time, Michael enjoys playing football, travelling and reading.

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Dr Annamaria Lilienkampf

“Nanna” grew up in Kuopio, Finland, surrounded by lakes and forests. After receiving her M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Joensuu (now University of Eastern Finland) she moved to the University of Helsinki to pursue doctoral studies in Organic Chemistry with Prof. Kristiina Wahala. The main focus of her thesis was the design and synthesis of non-steroidal 17β-HSD1 inhibitors. After receiving her Ph.D. in 2007, she was granted a fellowship from the Academy of Finland to conduct postdoctoral research in the USA in the field of medicinal chemistry. She spent the following two years at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) where she worked in the College of Pharmacy Drug Discovery Program under the supervision of Prof. Alan P. Kozikowski. During her time at UIC, Nanna worked mainly on antituberculosis agents and histone lysine methyltransferase inhibitors. During her postdoctoral studies, she became increasingly interested in chemical biology. Therefore, in October 2009, she began working with Prof.- Mark Bradley at the University of Edinburgh. In the Bradley group, her research has focused on cationic lipid-based gene transfection agents, their design and synthesis, as well as their high-throughput applications. The aim of her project is to identify an efficient, in vivo active transfection agent for cystic fibrosis gene therapy. This research, conducted on the interface of chemistry and biology, combines rational compound design, solid-phase synthesis, cell-based screening, and DNA microarrays.

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Dr Tashfeen Walton

Tashfeen was born in 1981 in Derby, but was brought up both in Scotland and Pakistan. She obtained her MChem in chemistry with pharmaceutical chemistry in 2002 from Heriot-Watt University, followed by a Ph.D. in carbohydrate chemistry under the supervision of Dr R. H. Wightman (2006). Her first postdoctoral position (2006-2008) was at University of St Andrews where she worked with Dr S. Conway in synthesising InsP3 receptor ligands. After taking a year out to have a baby, she then joined Bradley group in 2009 to work on the development of in vivo molecular imaging agents. Tashfeen also gained experience working at Macfarlan Smith Ltd.
In her spare time, Tashfeen loves spending time with her family as well as enjoy cooking and gardening.

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Dr Salvatore Pernagallo

Salvatore was born in Catania (Italy) and lived happily in Scordia, a citrus village located in Catania's lowlands where his beloved parents still live. After High School he moved to Catania to study Molecular Biology at the Homonym University. During his degree he acquired his military service for the "60° Battaglione Fanteria Col di Lana" in Trapani (Italy). He got his degree in December 2004, the subject of his thesis being "Genomics and Evolution of the Apoptotic Machinery" under the supervision of Prof. Michele Purrello and Prof. Alfredo Ferro in the Biomedical Science Department.
After graduation, he won a position as a medical genetics trainee in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Catania, where he successfully has completed the third year of four. In May 2006 Salvatore took a break from his studies in Catania to join the Bradley Group at Edinburgh University as a PhD student. During his PhD he contributed to the development of a novel high-throughput screening platform (polymer microarray), including experiment design, synthesis and data analysis. I applied this platform to several practical contexts for biomaterials, such as: developing new implant surfaces and tissue-engineered scaffolds while enhancing the study of cell-biomaterial interactions, and creating surface treatments for the prevention of bacterial
In April 2010, after completing his PhD, he took on a position as a post-doctoral researcher in the same group “Prof. Bradley’s group” where he is currently studying new chemical substrates that are applicable to human embryonic stem cells for controllable differentiation to hepatocytes. Satisfying this goal in conjunction with improving hepatocyte functionality will allow Salvatore and his group to generate high fidelity models of human liver function in vitro.
Outside the lab he is an international wrestling referee (Greco-Roman and Free Stile) so has the opportunity to travel around Europe. In his spare time he loves cooking Italian food…perhaps because he loves eating it as well!!

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Geraldine Escher

Writing Up

Geraldine was born in Belfort, in the North-East of France, in 1984. After gaining an HND in Organic Chemistry, at the University of Besancon (France), she graduated with a five-year University degree "Master Recherche" in Biomolecular Chemistry, at the University of Montpellier II. During her studies, she had the opportunity to do 5 internships (4 in France:COBS, LAPP, CRBA and UMIB and 1 in Canada : College de l'Outaouais).She joined the Bradley group in September 2007 and she is currently working on the synthesis of peptoid carrier for cellular delivery of biologically active molecules.

Out of work, Geraldine enjoys travelling (11 countries), reading, walking, skiing (when there is some snow) and of course spending a lot of time with her friends (in restaurants, the cinema, the pub...)

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Matt Bacon

Writing Up

Matthew was raised in Lincoln, surrounded by cows and cathedrals. Matt did his undergraduate degree at the University of Nottingham, where he obtained a MSci in Biochemistry and Biological Chemistry.

He joined the world famous Bradley Group in September 2008, where he will work on a project in conjunction with the Nash Group based in the Royal Dick Vet School at the University of Edinburgh.

In his spare time he enjoys socialising with friends, swimming, live music and travelling.

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Mei Wu

Writing Up

Mei was born and grew up in a beautiful mountain city, Chongqing (southwest of China), until 2003 when she moved to Chengdu for her undergraduate degree in Pure Chemistry in the University of Sichuan. After graduating, she continued her studies there (Master of Analytical Chemistry) under the supervision of Prof. An-ping Deng. In 2008, Mei was very happy to join in Bradley Group at the University of Edinburgh, working on the field of micrroarrays.

In her free time, Mei enjoys reading, hiking, playing badminton and she loves Chinese food, especially hot pot.

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Frank Thielbeer

Writing Up

Frank was born in Magdeburg the capital of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. He did his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Leipzig. As part of his Masters, Frank studied abroad at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) but finished his studies about cell-adherent peptides in Leipzig.

In the Bradley Research Group Frank synthesises microspheres and nanospheres to investigate their applications in cellular delivery and molecular sensing but also their toxic potential.

When he is not in the lab, he enjoys cycling, hiking, socialising with his friends or just being out in nature.   

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Anne Hansen

3rd Year PhD

Anne was born in the Bavarian metropolis Munich but soon moved to Hanover in North Germany. She started her chemistry studies at the University of Leipzig in East Germany. During her Master of Science, Anne studied also at the Ohio University in Athens (USA) but completed it back in Leipzig with work involving antimicrobial peptides.

Here, at the University of Edinburgh Anne investigates polymers and their ability to bind cells and influence their growth.

In her free time Anne enjoys to do handcrafts, to draw and to socialise with her friends.  

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Thingsoon Jong

3rd Year PhD

Thingsoon was born in Miri, Malaysia. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Chemistry in 2006, working under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. How SE (an alumna of the Bradley group) during the final year of his course.

Prior to his postgraduate studies, he has worked as a process engineer in the electronics manufacturing industry for 2 years. In 2009, he was awarded the MTEM/School of Chemistry Studentship (Edinburgh) to pursue his research interests in the field of flow synthesis and heterogeneous catalysis.

Outside of work, Thingsoon enjoys having a good holiday, savouring his mom’s cooking and reading thrillers.

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Martha Mackay

3rd Year PhD

Martha was born in the Highlands of Scotland. She completed her Bsc (Hons) degree in Applied Chemistry at Robert Gordon’s University in 2006, working under Dr Paul Kong.

Before starting her postgraduate studies, Martha spent four months backpacking before returning to RGU where she worked as a Research assistant on three short term projects including, the synthesis and characterization of novel antioxidants with Dr Paul Kong, the synthesis and photophysical evaluation of novel luminescent sensors with Dr John Callan, and the synthesis of PEG/small molecule conjugates for Cystinosis with Dr Graeme Kay.

Within the Bradley group, Martha works on the synthesis of fluorescent probes for cancer imaging, funded by Cancer research UK.

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Neil Norouzi

3rd Year PhD

Neil joined the Bradley group in September 2009 and has since been working on the synthesis of cyanine dyes, ultimately for the use as a chemical probe for in vivo molecular imaging.

In his spare time Neil enjoys many sports and playing poker.

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Aurélie Brunet

2nd Year PhD

Aurélie was born in Aix-en-Provence in the south-east of France and grew up in a small village nearby, inbetween the Alps and the coast. After high school, she went to Marseille and obtained a five year degree “Master Recherche” at the University Paul Cezanne III in Organic Chemistry. Thanks to the Erasmus Exchange program she was able to spend her 4th year and half of her 5th year at the University of Glasgow, where she completed 3 pieces of research in different areas of organic chemistry (Supramolecular Chemistry, Spin-trap Synthesis, and Medicinal Chemistry).  In love with Scotland, its lochs, its traditions and the friendly welcome of the population, she was very happy to come back and join the Bradley group in September 2009 as a PhD student.  She is currently working on the synthesis of chemical probes for in vivo imaging.
In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with friends, travelling, reading, cooking, painting and of course going back to the lovely Mediterranean weather to visit her family. 

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Martin Stindl

2nd Year PhD

Martin was born in Dachau (Germany) in March 1984. He has lived in Bobingen (near Augsburg) since then. The first time he came to Scotland was in summer 1999, to attend a boarding school in Moniaive until 2002. After a gap year Martin went to Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh where he graduated with a Masters in Chemistry, and in 2009 with a Masters of Science through research. His outside uni activities include movies, games, swimming and TV. Martin works on synthesis of PNA encoded compound libraries that are then hybridised onto DNA microarrays.

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Kirsten N Rose

1st Year PhD

Kirsten was born and raised in Nottingham, England. After graduating from Imperial College in 2009 with an MSci in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry, she started on the British Heart Foundation Centre of Research Excellence Programme at Edinburgh University - a programme specifically designed to integrate physical scientists into medical research. After completed an MSc in Cardiovascular Biology in August 2010, she started her PhD in September 2010 in the Bradley Group. Her project centres around the design, synthesis and testing of fluorescent probes capable of specific binding to enzymes linked to hypertension.

Thanks must go to the British Heart Foundation for allowing Kirsten to continue with her studies in this area.

In her spare time, Kirsten enjoys camping, any other form of holidays and reading and socialising.

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Andrew Nolan

2nd Year PhD

Andrew was born and educated in West London and came to the University of Edinburgh to study for an MChem in Medicinal and Biological Chemistry. His final year project was carried out in the Bradley group where he learnt the basics of peptide synthesis. He joined the Bradley group as a PhD student in September 2010 to continue to work in the Chemistry/Biology interface research area.

In his spare time, Andrew enjoys playing the piano and travelling.

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Melissa Ladyman

2nd Year PhD

Melissa Ladyman was born in Essex and at the age of six decided she wanted to attend the University of Edinburgh. By the time it came to applying she had decided to study Chemistry and was still determined to go to Edinburgh. She took an undergraduate masters degree, spending her fourth year in Lille, France, working on the development of anti-tubercular and anti-depressant compounds. In her final year she applied to the Bradley group so she could pursue her interest in both synthetic and medicinal chemistry. Melissa works on the synthesis of fluorescent markers.
When not in the lab Melissa enjoys reading and writing and tries to ice skate as much as possible.

t.ngo@ed.ac.uk

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Elizabeth Jameson

1st Year PhD

Born and raised in Southampton, Liz spent a while considering studying music before deciding to pursue science.  She read Natural Sciences at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University, specialising in chemistry in her final year.  Meanwhile, she had the opportunity to play a few notes on the cello at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival – and so began her plan to move to the city.  Fortunately the MSc in Medicinal and Biological Chemistry offered by the University of Edinburgh matched her interests perfectly, and she completed this in 2010, writing her dissertation on an investigation into the screening of protein microarrays with small molecules.  She joined the Bradley group in October of that year to work on a SINAPSE-funded project developing a generic method for radiolabelling and cleaving solid phase synthesised pre-probes to produce radiotracers for Positron Emission Tomography.

Outside the lab, Liz loves playing piano and cello, the Scottish countryside, the occasional game of tennis and relaxing with friends.

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Alison Brearley

1st Year PhD

Alison was born and raised in Livingston, just outside Edinburgh.  She graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2011 with an MChem in Chemistry, having completed her final year project in organometallic
synthesis.  She joined the Bradley group in 2011, where she works on creating microarrays of molecularly imprinted polymers.

In her spare time, Alison enjoys singing, trips to the theatre and cinema, and socialising with her friends.

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Chris Mangani

1st Year PhD

Chris was born in Malta, in April 1984.  He graduated in 2007 with a Bachelors degree in Pharmacy at the University of Malta, specialising in Industry and Process Analytical Technology.  Between 2007-2011 he worked in Quality Assurance within a Pharmaceutical Company.  During that period he followed a part time MSc degree in Applied Chemistry at the University of Malta with a dissertation on De Novo In Silico Drug Design targeting the Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor (PPARγ).  In 2011, he won a Scholarship from Malta which enabled him to pursue a PhD degree.  The University of choice was Edinburgh and he joined the Bradley group to work on Peptide libraries and stem cells.

In his spare time Chris enjoys travelling, meeting different people, reading, watching films at the cinema or on DVD especially involving super heroes from the DC Comics and Marvel Comics universes.

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Iain Harwood

1st Year PhD

Iain was born in Brighton and raised in Seaford both on the south-east coast of England.  He graduated with a Master in Science with First Class Honours in Chemistry from Bristol University before going on a gap year to backpack around south-east Asia. Upon returning from his travels he moved to Edinburgh to complete a Master of Science by Research in Biomedical Sciences funded by Cancer Research UK. During his Masters year he investigated “Targeting the Tumour Microenvironment in Breast Cancer” with Dr Carol Ward, “Synthesis and Evaluation of New Mechanism Based Antibacterials” with Professor Mark Bradley and “Monitoring Bioorthogonal Click Reactions in Biological Media by Infrared Spectroscopy” with Dr Alison Hulme. In September 2011 he joined the Bradley Research group to develop new methodology for the solid-phase synthesis of constrained macrocyclic peptides with a PhD studentship from Novartis.

In his spare time he enjoys running, scuba diving, hill-walking, rock climbing, theatre, comedy, cinema, travelling and socialising with friends.   

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