Professor

I received my BSc. from King's College London and remained there to do a Ph.D. under the guidance of Professor Helen Fielding (UCL) carrying out work on Rydberg electron wavepacket dynamics in atoms and diatomic molecules. Following my Ph.D., I spent three months as a postdoctoral fellow at the PTCL at the University of Oxford under the guidance of Professors J.P. Simons FRS and Mark Brouard and then returned as an EPSRC postdoctoral researcher in Professor Fielding's group for three years to continue research on Rydberg dynamics. Under a Lawrence Berkeley postdoctoral fellowship, I joined Professor Stephen Leone's group at the University of California, Berkeley (three years) where I began investigating rotational and vibrational motion in diatomics and polyatomic and ways to manipulate these motions with certain optical tricks (pulse-sequences). I returned to the U.K. in 2005 and am currently a Professor of Physical Chemistry.

Our main interest of research is studying the photoprotection mechanisms of molecules found in DNA, proteins, and sunscreens following excitation with ultraviolet radiation, using a combination of femtosecond laser spectroscopy and gas-phase molecular beam methodologies. More recently, we have begun bridging the gap between our gas-phase work and the solution-phase, seeking to unravel how the photochemistry of these biomolecules is influenced by the more realistic condensed-phase environment. This is achieved using transient absorption spectroscopy methodologies. In addition, we are also interested in condensed dynamics of transition metal complexes of potential use as photochemotherapy 'prodrugs'.

V dot Stavros at warwick dot ac dot uk

024761 51015

Office E0.11b

Stavros Group