The Group
Post Docs:
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Dr Venkaiah Chintalapudi I was born in Guntur district, AP, India. I obtained my B.S. in Chemistry from J.K.C College, Guntur. After finished my M.S. in Chemistry from JNTU Hyderabad, I began my doctoral studies under the guidance of Professor D. B. Ramachary at the University of Hyderabad, India. My doctoral research was focused on the development of new reactions based on the aminoenynes and phosphoniodienes. In Sept 2014, I joined in Prof. Anderson research group as postdoc. Currently I am working on asymmetric reactions of dieneamides. Outside the lab, I enjoys playing cricket, music and spending time with my friends. |
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Dr Carlos Arroniz Born and raised in Barcelona, I completed my degree at the University of Barcelona where I stayed to carry out my PhD training on organo- and metal catalysis under the supervision of Dr Carmen Escolano. During my PhD studies I spent four months in the laboratories of Prof Karl Anker Jørgensen (Aarhus University). Upon obtaining my PhD, I came to the UK for a short stage in the group of Prof Adam Nelson at the University of Leeds, before starting a Knowledge Transfer Account between Queen Mary University of London and GlaxoSmithKline under the supervision of Prof Igor Larrosa and Dr Alan Ironmonger. The project was focused on developing C–H bond functionalisation reactions for optimal pharmaceutical applications. In the Anderson group, my work is concerned with the synthesis of five-membered aromatic heterocycles. Outside the lab I really enjoy watching football, especially when Barça play and win! |
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Dr Haraldur Gudmundsson I come from the land of ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs flow. I studied for my BSc degree in Chemistry at the University of Iceland and have completed my DPhil at Oxford reading Organic Chemistry. Being an Organic Chemist I spend most of my time in the lab, but outside I like cooking, reading, music and sports especially football, basketball and handball (the Icelandic national sport). I have also taken a keen interest in the British sport of going to the pubs |
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Alexander Durr My name is Alex and I am fortunate enough to be born and raised in the most beautiful region of Germany; that is obviously the South. I completed my undergraduate studies at the University of Heidelberg, followed by a research stay at BASF in Ludwigshafen, Germany. I moved on to RWTH Aachen University where I undertook my PhD studies employing a combined experimental and DFT based approach to the elucidation of mechanistic questions in Nickel and Organocatalysis. In October 2017, I joined the group of Prof Ed Anderson at Oxford University to work on catalyst design in asymmetric cycloisomerization reactions as a PostDoc. Outside the lab, I am into repeatedly lifting heavy things up and put them down exactly where I got them from, an endeavour known as weightlifting. I have recently developed a passion for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a grappling based Martial Art, which doesn’t make me a violent person, but the guy in the Chemistry Cafeteria always greets me really nicely when he sees me. Oh, well. |
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Dr Pauline Pieper I come from a small city in Lorraine, France and I obtained my M.Sc. degree from University of Strasbourg. Then, I did my PhD with Prof. Robert Deschenaux at the university of Neuchâtel, Switzerland. working on the synthesis of liquid-crystalline tris-fullerodendrimers and [2]rotaxane. Following completion of my PhD, I joined the EAA group in 2018 as postdoc, where my research involves the synthesis of anti-leishmaniasis natural products. Outside the lab, I enjoy running, mountain walking and going sailing. |
DPhils
4th Year:
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Mujahid Mohammad I am Mujahid (or Mujji) from India, born and brought up in the capital city of Delhi. I did my B.Sc. and M. Tech., with Chemistry as my major subject, form the University of Delhi which was followed by an M.S. in Materials Science from the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. I am now working as a D.Phil. in the Anderson group towards the synthesis of Schisandra Natural Products. Outside lab I enjoy playing Basketball, visiting places and surfing the Internet. |
3rd Year :
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Steve Mansfield I am originally from Ormskirk and completed my undergraduate degree in Oxford. Under the supervision of Ed, my Part II project explored the construction of various electron-rich alkynes from simple precursors. I am back, once again, to explore the synthesis and reactivity of both ynamides and yndiamides. When not battling with and being outsmarted by chemistry, I enjoy playing badminton and pool, and training karate. I also enjoy pizzas and good movies. |
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Dimitri Caputo I come from a small town near Grenoble, France. I graduated with a master's degree from the Graduate School of Chemistry of Montpellier. Over the course of my education, I had the opportunity to perform a one-year industrial placement at Bayer CropScience in Monheim in Rhein, Germany, where I synthesised compounds for crop protection. I was appointed for my master thesis at F. Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel, Switzerland to develop small molecules for ophthalmology. Within Ed Anderson's group, I am working on the developement of a new chemistry around the bicyclo(1.1.1)pentane ring to be used as a phenyl isostere in pharmaceuticals. Apart from work, I enjoy cooking, reading, playing the guitar and skiing. |
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Kai Ma My name is Kai and I come from a small city in Jiangsu, China. I obtained my MSci degree in 2015, from Imperial College London. During my final year, I worked on developing new carbon nucleophiles in copper-catalyzed reactions. I've now moved to the Anderson group to investigate rhodium-catalyzed cyclization reactions. Outside the lab, I am quite keen on sports & fitness. I like MMA and am doing some courses myself (Muay Thai, boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) - but in real life, I am not a violent person at all. |
2nd Year :
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Claire Sear I am originally from Sheffield and completed my MChem degree at the University of Warwick, where I spent my final year working with Dr David Fox on the use of NMR for the stereochemical assignment of isoleucine residues in peptides. During my degree, I also completed a URSS summer project in the group of Professor Mike Shipman on oxetane containing peptidomimetics for drug discovery. I also spent a week at GlaxoSmithKline on their Residential Chemistry Training Experience. My main interests lie in the development of new methods for organic synthesis, and their application to total synthesis and drug discovery. Outside of the lab, I am a health and fitness enthusiast and compete in track and field athletics, so can probably be found in the gym or at the track. Other loves include musical theatre, cooking, and outdoor activities such as camping and hill walking. |
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Felix Urbitsch I graduated from a double-degree programme with a Diplôme d’ingénieur from the ENSC Rennes and a M.Sc. degree from the Technische Universität Dresden. During my studies, I had the opportunity to broaden my academic knowledge through research projects at BASF and IPF Dresden. Intrigued by the power of organic chemistry, I completed my master’s thesis on the synthesis of clerodane diterpenoids, under the supervision of Professor Peter Metz. My research interests include total synthesis, cascade reactions and organocatalysis. In my spare time, I enjoy playing volleyball, ballroom dancing and playing the guitar. I am also an avid student of foreign languages. |
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Eddie Toma I was born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.. I completed two Bachelor of Science degrees from Michigan State University, one in chemistry and the other in biochemistry and molecular biology. During my tenure at Michigan State University, I worked in Prof Babak Borhan’s lab investigating a one-pot synthesis of highly functionalized bicyclic piperidines using the hetero-Diels-Alder reaction, developed diastereoselective halogenated spiroketals, and assisted in creating a halenium affinity scale. I completed my senior thesis under the supervision of Prof Honggao Yan, studying the Michaelis-Menten kinetics of enzymes by using site-directed mutagenesis. Upon graduation, I proceeded to work several years in various fields of the pharmaceutical industry for a couple different companies doing biochemical testing and as a research scientist in analytical development, solid-state chemistry and crystallography. In the Anderson group I am working towards the total synthesis of heronamide F. Outside the lab, I currently am the president of Science Innovation Union, a graduate and post-graduate student led non-profit organisation helping scientist learn to translate their research, and I enjoy fishing, hiking, camping, cooking, and like to stay in shape by playing most sports. |
1st Year :
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Marie Wong Marie is from Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, and completed her MChem degree at the University of Oxford. Her Part II project, supervised by Prof Ed Anderson, investigated the design of novel phosphoramidite ligands for asymmetric cycloisomerizations. Marie has also worked with Prof John Hartwig at UC Berkeley on palladium-catalysed arylation reactions and with Prof Scott Miller at Yale University to develop peptide-based catalysts for the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation. When not in the lab, Marie enjoys traveling, photography and music. |
Part IIs:
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Jon Yong I was born in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, and spent much of my childhood there before moving to Singapore. I’m currently working on rhodium-catalysed reactions of ynamides for my Part II year in the Anderson group. Outside of chemistry, I play the violin, the flute, and the piano (not all at the same time), and also enjoy cooking food from my homeland and beyond. |
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Liv Garry I am a fourth year chemist at New College from Sussex by the sea. I return after completing a research project in the group where I synthesized substrates to test a key step in a total synthesis of Gelsemine. Previously I worked with Professor Scott Denmark at UIUC on the synthesis and testing of an organoselenium catalyst, alongside the synthesis of pyridine derivatives. I am currently investigating regioselectivity in reactions of yndiamides and new yndiamide reactivity. In my free time, I enjoy reading and drawing. |
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Ben Owen I’m from Belfast, Northern Ireland and I’ve been studying Chemistry at Oxford since 2014. Currently I’m a Part II in the Anderson group investigating cascade processes in the synthesis of ring-appended Bicyclopentanes. When not doing Chemistry, I enjoy playing video games and attempting to teach myself foreign languages and other interesting things related to linguistics. |
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Bruno Marinic I originally come from a small town in Slovenia called Ptuj. Previously I have worked on summer projects in the Russell and Donohoe groups and now joined Ed’s group as a Part II. Outside of the lab I enjoy reading, live music and wine (in ascending order). |
Visiting students:
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Joyce Grimm I was born in the beautiful city Hamburg in Germany, where I also started my bachelor studies. I completed my B.Sc. with a thesis dealing with research on the total synthesis of diepomuricanin under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Christian Stark. Currently, I am in my second and final year of my master studies using the opportunity to work in the Anderson group on my master thesis dealing with natural product synthesis. After a long day in the lab, I enjoy reading, socialising with friends and especially sports (e.g. badminton). |
