Educational Background

Ed graduated with Chemistry BSc (Hons) at the University of Bristol in 2009, working with Prof Thomas Simpson on small chemical probes for biosynthetic pathways, including cell work to produce proteins for assays. He then undertook an MSc by Research at the University of Southampton under an INTERREG ISCE:Chem Studentship to work with Prof Ganesan -- now at UEA -- on small peptidomimetic drug candidates, completing in 2011.

Awarded a four-year Queen Mary, University of London Graduate Teaching Studentship in 2011 to work with Prof Stephen Goldup -- now at the University of Birmingham -- his PhD research on the mechanism of the CuAAC rotaxanation and novel macrocycle synthesis brought him into the Supramolecular fold, also seeing him return to the University of Southampton as a visitor for a year. After submitting his thesis, he went to Kanazawa University, Japan to work with Prof Tomoki Ogoshi -- now at Kyoto University -- on Pillarene macrocycles on a three-month JSPS Summer Programme Fellowship, returning to Southampton to work on a three-month project on lanthanide rotaxanes with Steve and Dr Jon Kitchen (now at the MacDiarmid Institute, NZ). Ed received his PhD from QMUL in 2016.

Post-Doctoral Research

Ed returned to the East End to work on small organic molecules and complexes to run in protein assays in the Blizard Institute at the Barts and London School of Medicine and Dentistry, under the guidance of Prof Denise Sheer. In addition to working on cell cultures and protein screens to validate these molecules, Ed worked in the lab of Dr Chris Jones to synthesize the target compounds, back at the (former) School of Biological and Chemical Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London. Working as a Teaching Laboratory Technician, he continued in the lab to explore aryne chemistry, eventually becoming a Teaching Fellow in September 2018.

Awarded a 12-month JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship, Ed joined the Frontier Molecules Group at MANA-NIMS, Tsukuba, Japan under Dr Takashi Nakanishi to develop functional supramolecular liquids, drawing on his pyridine work. He continued as a NIMS Postdoctoral Researcher until September 2020, returning to the UK to resolve personal issues arising from the COVID-19 epidemic.

During his time in the UK, Ed returned to work with the Jones group at QMUL to work on further aryne and bipyridine synthetic methodology. In addition, he taught C1-level English for Chemistry at the University of Regensburg, with four of his students having articles accepted in the Royal Society of Chemistry's Chemistry World magazine.

In May 2021 -- fresh out of quarantine -- Ed returned to MANA-NIMS on a MANA Postdoctoral Fellowship to join the Functional Chromophores Group under Dr Jonathan Hill, staying with the group for two years (publications still in preparation).

Back to School

After taking time away from the laboratory for family reasons, Ed entered the Waseda Center for Japanese Language, taking their Japanese Language Programme for a semester. After completing. he assumed his current position.

Research Achievements

Awards: 

• 2021 MANA Postdoctoral Fellowship

• 2019 JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship (Short-Term)

• 2015 RSC MASC Conference Best Flash Talk Prize

• 2015 JSPS Summer Programme Fellowship

• 2011 QMUL Graduate Teaching Studentship

• 2009 INTERREG IV ISCE:Chem Studentship

Presentations: 

• 2023 103rd CSJ Annual Meeting, Noda Campus, Tokyo Institute of Science (Poster)

• 2020 ICYS/MANA Symposium, Tsukuba (Poster)

• 2019 RSC MASC, U. of Kent, Canterbury (Poster)

• 2018 9th Joint CSJ-RSC Symposium, Burlington House (Poster)

• 2016 Japan-UK Research Promotion Symposium, Embassy of Japan in the UK (Presentation/Poster)

• 2015 RSC MASC, U. of Durham (Presentation/Poster)

• 2014 RSC MASC, UEA (Poster)

• 2013 RSC MASC, U. of Glasgow (Poster)

Downloads

The following things were made either during my PhD or later to hopefully be useful to other researchers:

• Thesis Template. This was made in 2015 for QMUL, modified later for University of Southampton requirements, but should work well for most specifications (check those of your institution!). It may also work for a book.

• IR Template for Excel. Render an IR spectrum in Excel in absorbance mode, with the minima detected by a formula. Copy the XY data into the second sheet, then tweak the sensitivity and threshold numbers to show more or fewer labels on the chart. This was originally made in 2011 for QMUL, but may get buggy and misbehave due to the limitations of data labels in later versions of Excel.

• Others to follow later