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2021 COHORT
Edvinas AliĊĦauskas
Wadham College
Originally from Vilnius, Lithuania, Edvinas completed his MChem degree at the University of Oxford, Merton College. During his Part II year, he joined Prof Darren Dixon’s group to work on novel methods for the photocatalytic generation and downstream reactivity of alpha-amino radical species. Previously, Edvinas did a 3-month medicinal chemistry internship at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. He has a broad interest in synthetic chemistry, especially (photo)catalysis and radical chemistry. Outside the lab, Edvinas enjoys going on walks, cooking and baking, trying out new restaurants and bars and spending time with family and friends.
Martin Flerin Maver
Wadham College
Martin grew up near Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and completed his MSci in Chemistry degree at Imperial College London. His master's project was under the supervision of Professor Matthew Fuchter and focused on the development of novel azoheteroarene photoswitches for potential use in pharmacology. He previously worked with Professor Britovsek at Imperial to investigate the catalytic conversion of cyrene, and at the National Institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana, where he investigated the mechanism of NLP protein toxicity in plants. His primary interests in organic chemistry lie in medicinally relevant synthetic methods and compounds. Outside of the laboratory his main interests are electronic music, skiing, cooking, and photography.
Aleksy Kwiatkowski
Merton College
Aleksy completed his MChem at the University of Oxford, University College. His Part II project, under the supervision of Prof Stuart Conway, involved study of the structure activity relationships of novel molecules designed to bind to a bromodomain in the parasite Schistosoma mansoni, with the overall aim of validating novel targets for the treatment of Schistosomiasis. He spent the summer of 2019 at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, in a research group focused on the development of new battery technologies, though has since found his place in organic chemistry. Specifically, Aleksy is interested in the development of syntheses of molecules with direct biological application. Aleksy is a keen musician, playing piano and oboe, and is currently teaching himself bass guitar. He also enjoys cooking for friends and going to the pub.
Anna Miller
University College
Anna is the recipient of the Oxford-Radcliffe SBM CDT Scholarship 2021. Originally from the Scottish Borders, Anna completed her MSci in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. During her degree, Anna undertook a placement year at Pfizer within the process chemistry department focusing on route development. Her final year project, under the supervision of Prof. Lee Cronin, involved creating 3D printed chemical reactors. Anna also completed two summer internships, one on PROTAC chemistry with Dr. David France at the University of Glasgow and the other, with Prof. Russell Cox at Leibniz University of Hannover, working on natural product biosynthesis. Outside the lab, Anna enjoys photography, hillwalking, dance and netball.
Katherine Rodden
Lady Margaret Hall
Originally from Hertfordshire, Katherine completed an MChem in Chemistry, Biological and Medicinal Chemistry at the University of York, during which she carried out a one-year placement at Bayer CropScience in Frankfurt am Main, Germany on the synthesis of novel herbicides. She also completed a summer placement at Cancer Research UK Therapeutic Discovery Laboratories in Cambridge working in the medicinal chemistry team on an oncology drug discovery project. Katherine has a broad interest in the organic synthesis of biologically active compounds and medicinal chemistry. Outside the lab she enjoys dancing, baking and spending time with friends and family.
Carla Walla
Keble College
Carla is the recipient of a University of Oxford's Clarendon Scholarship. Originally from Germany, Carla moved to the UK for secondary school, followed by an MChem degree at the University of Oxford. She completed a summer internship in 2019 in the Carell group at the LMU in Munich, working on a medicinal chemistry project that involved the synthesis of a cyclic dinucleotide. In her part II project, supervised by Prof Chris Schofield, Carla investigated the conformational changes of isopenicillin N synthase during catalysis. Her research interests lie in using synthetic organic chemistry to investigate and manipulate biological systems. Outside of chemistry, she enjoys horse riding and photography.
