Group

Artemis Bosveli

Artemis studied chemistry in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece). Before her graduation in 2017, she completed an internship at Bayer AG in Wuppertal (Germany) in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Organic Synthesis under the supervision of Dr. Hartmut Schirok. In the 2017-2019 period, she performed her M.Sc. degree in the ‘’Isolation and Synthesis of Natural Products with Biological Activity’’ program of the Chemistry Department at the University of Crete (Greece). During her master thesis she involved with materials chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Pantelis N. Trikalitis. In 2019, Artemis started her doctoral studies in the same department, under the supervision of Prof. Georgios Vassilikogiannakis, working on new photocatalytic methodologies. The main subject of her thesis was focused on the synthesis of heterocyclic N-containing compounds using sustainable processes. In September 2023, she joined the Gouverneur group as a postdoctoral researcher. In her free time, Artemis enjoys travelling, watching movies and meeting with friends.

Zijun Chen

Zijun Chen did her MChem at Merton College before joining the VG group; investigating the reconstruction of 31P spectroscopic imaging in vivo in her Part II project.  Her DPhil was focused on the copper-mediated radiosynthesis of ¹⁸F- and ¹²³I-radiolabelled PARP inhibitors. She enjoys powerlifting and running in her free time. 

Chris Goult

Chris is originally from Bradford and moved to the University of York for his MChem degree. During his final year project, he worked on the outer-sphere electrophilic fluorination of organometallic ruthenium complexes. After completing his undergraduate study, he completed his PhD working with Prof Jason Lynam and Dr John Slattery using solid-state NMR spectroscopy, in tandem with computational chemistry, to characterise and interpret metal-carbon bonding in organometallic species. After completing his PhD, he has undertaken post-doctoral studies with Prof Duncan Bruce on the direct preparation of cyclo-aurated liquid crystalline complexes using microwave activation. He then completed further post-doctoral studies with Dr Luke Wilkinson, working on the preparation of quadruply bonded dimolybdenum paddlewheel complexes and their functionalisation and assembly into conductive continuous materials. He joined the Gouverneur research group in January 2023. In my free time he enjoys walking, wildlife, and whisky. 

Anirban Mondal

Dr Anirban Mondal grew up in Kolkata, the city of joy in the eastern part of India. He then did his master's thesis at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, under the supervision of Prof. Debabrata Maiti and Rodney A. Fernandes. During his master's research, he studied "Directing group-assisted meta- and para-C-H functionalization of arenes by different template-based assembly" and "Total synthesis of the antitumor agent asteriscunolide." In 2016, he joined the group of Prof. Ben L. Feringa, 2016 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, at the University of Groningen for his doctoral research. His PhD thesis is specialized in various chirality transfer processes in the development of chemically driven molecular machines and asymmetric catalysis. After completing his PhD and a short stay in the Feringa group as guest researcher, he joined the Gouverneur group in 2022 as Postdoctoral Research Associate, in the field of asymmetric fluorination. In his spare time, he likes to meet with others, play cricket, and solve crystal structures.

Thomas Schlatzer

Thomas completed his undergraduate studies in Chemistry at the Graz University of Technology (Austria). During this time, he gained experience in materials science working on bioactive polymers at PCCL as well as in synthetic organic chemistry in the course of his Master studies focused on water-soluble phosphorus ligands. In 2017, he started his doctoral studies under the supervision of Prof. Rolf Breinbauer working on the development of chemo- and regioselective S-allylations based on palladium-catalysis. In collaboration with Prof. Christian F. W. Becker (University of Vienna), this methodology was extended as a bioconjugation strategy for the labelling and post-translational modification of cysteines within peptides and proteins. Since April 2022, Thomas is working as a postdoctoral research associate in the Gouverneur Group at the University of Oxford. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, skiing and travelling.

Long Yang

Dr. Long Yang completed his MChem degree at Fuzhou University (China) in 2017 under the supervision of Prof. Gang Li, working on the palladium-catalyzed remote C−H activation. Then, he moved to Georg-August-University Göttingen, Germany for his doctoral studies in the research group of Prof. Lutz Ackermann, where he mainly focused on metallaelectro-catalyzed C−H activation and electrochemical cage activation of carboranes. After obtaining his Ph.D, he joined the Gouverneur Group as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford in March 2022. In his free time, he enjoys swimming, cooking and travelling.

Joseph Ford

Joe grew up in Reading and graduated with First Class honours in Chemistry from the University of Oxford in 2019. During the summer of 2018 he worked in the lab of Prof. Tobias Ritter, Max Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung, on the late stage trifluoromethylation of arenes, followed by his Part II year in the Gouverneur Group, where he worked on organocatalytic nucleophilic fluorination. He joined the SBM CDT in September 2019 and completed a rotation in the Duarte group, before rejoining the Gouverneur group in July 2020. In his spare time, he enjoys travelling, going to the pub and trying to speak German.

Claire Dooley

Claire grew up in London and completed her MChem degree at the University of Leeds. During her final year in 2020 she worked on the design and synthesis of small molecule inhibitors of TRPC5 channel as therapeutics for cardiovascular diseases under the supervision of Dr Visuvanathar Sridharan and Dr Richard Foster. During her undergraduate degree Claire also completed an industrial placement at Reckitt Benckiser working as an analyst and formulation scientist for the Strepsils brand. Claire joined the Gouverneur group in October 2020- DPhil in organic chemistry in collaboration with Astrazeneca. Claires hobbies include travelling (pre-covid), going to the pub with friends, running and cooking. 

Sebastiano Ortalli

Sebastiano completed his BSc in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Queen Mary University of London in 2019. His Bachelor’s project was conducted under the supervision of Dr Lesley Howell and focused on the synthesis of positive allosteric modulators of the 5-HT_2C receptor as a potential therapy for obesity. Following graduation, he joined the research group of Prof Maria Luisa Gelmi at the University of Milan, where he worked on the synthesis of small peptide derivatives designed for electrospinning along with the stereoselective synthesis of dual α-hydroxy-b-amino acid derivatives. Sebatiano joined the Gouverneur group in October 2020 to begin his DPhil in Organic Chemistry. In his free time, Sebastiano enjoys traveling, hiking and playing the guitar.

Xiaoyun Wang

Xiaoyun (Claire) completed her BSc in Chemistry at Imperial College London. She did her BSc project under the supervision of Prof. Oscar Ces on Giant Unilamellar Vesicles. In October 2019, she joined the VG group to start her DPhil in Organic Chemistry. Claire enjoys music and plays the violin. She performs, teaches and plays the violin in orchestras.

Ella Ogilvy

Ella grew up in Glasgow and completed an MChem, graduating in 2021 from the University of Edinburgh. During her time in Edinburgh, she was a summer student in the group of Prof. Guy Lloyd-Jones working on the synthesis of fluorinated photo-switches. Her final year was spent at ETH Zürich under the supervision of Prof. Peter Chen working on experimental gas-phase and DFT methods to investigate Cu-catalysed C-H carboxylations using CO2. Prior to this, in 2018, she worked in the lab of Prof. Hermann Wegner at Justus-Liebig University, Giessen synthesising phthalazine derivatives for use in redox flow batteries. Ella joined the Gouverneur group in October 2021 to begin her DPhil in Organic Chemistry. When not in the lab, Ella enjoys playing in orchestras, baking, and hiking. 

Calum Patel

Calum is from Dudley, West Midlands and recently completed his Master’s degree in Chemistry at Imperial College London under the supervision of Prof. Anthony Barrett. After a summer research placement under the supervision of Prof. Jennifer Love at the University of British Columbia, Calum undertook a twelve-month internship at F. Hoffmann La Roche in Basel. Having experienced the synthetic challenges of late-stage fluorination in drug discovery at Roche, Calum has a keen interest in the development of novel fluorination methods. Calum joined the SBM CDT in September 2020 and completed a rotation in computational chemistry in the Duarte group, before joining the Gouverneur group in May 2021. Outside the lab you can find Calum at the gym, cooking for friends or enjoying a G&T. 

Gabija Poskaite

Gabija grew up in Vilnius, Lithuania and completed her MChem degree at the University of Southampton in 2021. During the summer of 2019 Gabija worked on synthesis of fluorinated carbohydrates under the supervision of Prof. Bruno Linclau, which led to her final year project on SRI-FESTA (selective-reverse INEPT fluorine-edited selective TOCSY acquisition) NMR utilisation for equilibrating mixtures of significant relevance in medicinal chemistry and chemical biology. She joined the Gouverneur group in October 2021. Gabija’s hobbies include exploring specialty coffee, playing board games and contract bridge.

Caleb Doyle

Caleb grew up in Liverpool and completed his MSci in Chemistry at the University of Nottingham, graduating in 2022. His final year project, under the supervision of Dr James Dowden, focused on developing a concise synthesis to a novel opioid scaffold. Caleb also completed a year-long industry placement at GW Pharmaceuticals in 2020/21, synthesising cannabinoids with potential anti-epileptic activity. He extended his placement to work in the botanical branch of GW, developing novel cannabis extraction techniques. Caleb joined the Gouverneur group in August 2022 to begin his DPhil in Organic Chemistry. In his free time, Caleb enjoys woodcarving, cooking, and repairing and restoring tools, antiques, and other curios.

Job Struijs

Job completed his bachelor's and master's degree at the Eindhoven University of Technology. Before starting his master thesis, Job completed a summer exchange programme working on the synthesis, chain-end modification, and characterization of well-defined poly(acrylic acid)s in the groups of Prof. Craig J. Hawker and Prof. Javier Read de Alaniz (UCSB) in collaboration with Dow Chemical. His master thesis research was competed in Prof. Emiel Hensen’s group, and concerned low-concentration and low-temperature CO2 hydrogenation on reducible oxide supports. Besides chemistry, he enjoys meeting friends, playing the saxophone, mountain biking and playing tennis or squash.

Nicolas Charalambous

After 2 years of military service, Nicolas completed his bachelor's degree in chemistry at the University of St Andrews. There, he joined the group of Prof. Rebecca Goss, working on a novel detection method of halogenated amino acids utilizing fluorescent probes. Following work as a spectroscopist for a year, he undertook a traineeship at the German Oncology Centre in his native Cyprus, where he developed a keen interest in Positron Emission Tomography and radiopharmaceutical chemistry. He returned to St Andrews for his master's degree under Prof. David O'Hagan, focusing on the development of novel [¹⁸F]fluorinated A_2A adenosine receptor agonists for PET imaging. In 2023 he joined the Gouverneur group as a DPhil student to further pursue his interest in radiolabelling. Outside the lab, Nicolas can be found at a tennis court or teaching a cooking class.

Bill

Bill is the new addition of the group. He is very sociable, naturally curious and passionate about outdoor activities. When not on duty looking after the lab, he is playing cricket on Merton ground and keen to go for long walks in the park and in the countryside. 

Max (RIP)

R.I.P. Max started his DPhil project when he was just 3 years old working on the development of new fluorinated polymers to build highly resistant frisbees. When not in the lab, you might have seen him on Merton ground testing his new materials. In his spare time, he enjoyed eating, sleeping, playing extreme football or swimming in the river.