People

The Group

The research group comprises a mixture of postdocs, PhD students and undergraduates with diverse research interests. Please contact Prof. Alan Spivey for further information.

Current Postdocs

Mahesh Mohan

After postdoctoral positions within the Spivey Group and with Prof Jason Chin at the University of Cambridge, Mahesh returned to the Spivey Group in 2017 as a senior research associate. His current research is on sulfonylative kinetic resolution using chiral DMAP-N-oxide catalysts, and development of androgen receptor inhibitors for prostate cancer therapy. He also has responsibilities for undergraduate supervision and tutoring.

Noora Naghavi

After completing her PhD within UCL Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, and postdoctoral positions within this division and UCL Institute for Materials Discovery, Noora joined the Spivey Group in March 2020. Her current research is focused on the development of a haemolysis triple filter for use in extracorporeal circuits to remove haemolytic by-products during cardiopulmonary bypass surgery. This project is funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and is in collaboration with Dr. Gregory Quinlan (Imperial - Medicine) and Prof. Nathan Davies (UCL - Medical Sciences).

Current PhD Students (Including 4-year ICB MRes/PhD Students)

Chen Dai - 1st year

Chen joined the Spivey Group in October 2021 after completing a 12-month industrial placement in medicinal/organic synthesis at GSK's R&D site in Stevenage. Her project will focus on the total synthesis and separation of evoninic acid with the selective reduction of vinyl nitriles.

Natalia Swiatek - 2nd year

Natalia graduated from the University of York with an MChem in Chemistry, during which she undertook a research placement with Dr Chris Spicer. She started her PhD in the group in October 2021 and is working on the development and biological evaluation of novel alpha-helix mimetic prodrugs as leads for prostate cancer treatment. Her project is in collaboration with Prof Charlotte Bevan in the department of cancer and is co-funded by CRUK.

Adi Sahay - 2nd year (REACT CDT)

Adi started his PhD in the group in 2020 after completing his MSci at UCL and working for a year in process chemistry. His current project involves investigating C-H functionalisation of boronates as part of the REACT CDT.

Owen Griffiths - 3rd year (ICB CDT)

Owen is currently in the second year of his PhD as part of the Chemical Biology CDT. He graduated from Cardiff University with a BSc in Biochemistry in 2014, and went on to work as an R&D scientist in industry developing blood glucose biosensors before joining the group in October 2019. His current research, in collaboration with Roche, is focused on developing a biosensor for quantification of free haemoglobin.

Nararat Thongrisoon - 4th year

Nararat received her BSc and MSci at Prince of Songkla University in Thailand after completing projects in analytical chemistry involving biosensors, and took on academic roles at the university before joining us in October 2019. She is developing a method for rapid haemoglobin quantitation in blood for her PhD project in collaboration with Prof Tony Cass (Imperial), and is sponsored by a Royal Thai Government Scholarship.

Current Final Year MSci/BSc Undergraduate Students & MRes Postgraduate Students

Edward Davies - MSci

Having joined in October 2022, Ed is a current MSci student undertaking his final year master’s project in group. He is currently working on synthesising an acyl silane photoaffinity tag for use in chemical proteomics.

Harry J Linkhorn - MSci

Harry joined the group in October 2022 as a final year MSci student at Imperial. His project is on developing aryl boronic acid protecting and directing groups for meta-selective CH activation reactions.  

Ryota Nakao - MSci

Ryota is currently a fourth-year MSci student at Imperial and joined the group in October 2022. He is working on the development of alpha helix mimetics.

Susie Petri - MRes

Susie graduated from Durham University in June 2022 with a BSc in Chemistry, in which her dissertation was an investigation of liposomal drug delivery systems used in chemotherapy. She started her MRes in Advanced Molecular Synthesis in October 2022. Her research project is a continuation on previous work in the Spivey group on cyclopentene synthesis by dimerisation of methylenecyclopropanes. 

Current Erasmus, UROP and other Exchange Students

Kailong Li - Exchange 

Kailong is currently a 4^th year BSc student at Nankai university in China and joined the Spivey group as a self-funded visiting student in November 2022. His research focuses on the development of PROTAC drugs that target the BF3 site of androgen receptors.