I am currently in my first year of a biophysical chemistry PhD working within the Alison Rodger group at the University of Warwick.

The focus of my PhD project will be on the FtsZ protein involved in bacterial cell division. The FtsZ molecule is a prokaryotic homologue of the eukaryotic protein, tubulin. FtsZ forms a contracting ring, known as the Z-ring during cell division to divide the cells, rather than the pulling forces generated by the spindle fibers of tubulin in eukaryotes.

I studied my undergraduate in Chemical Biology here at the University of Warwick starting in 2008 and graduating with a Masters of Chemistry in 2012.

My fourth year project was based on analytical and inorganic chemistry with the Rourke group. The focus of the project was to investigate the properties of agostic interactions within Palladium(II) complexes. Expanding from these investigations were the identification of cyclometalation reactions and molecular switches when other ligands are introduced.

Between my second and third year, I recieved funding for an 8 week URSS project here at the University of Warwick with the Rourke group. The project was based on material chemistry, looking at a long known compound graphene oxide. During the project, the structure of graphene oxide was revisited and it was found that the structure was not as previously thought. The project led to a successful publication:

“The real graphene oxide revealed: stripping the oxidative debris from the graphene-like sheets”; Angew. Chem., 2011, 50, 3173.