Rebecca completed her MChem degree at the University of Huddersfield, spending her fourth year preparing self-assembled supramolecular hosts to sequester anions from aqueous solutions.
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Her PhD is focused on biomolecule encapsulation within metal-organic materials.
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Rebecca is from Bradford and enjoys drinking Yorkshire tea, watching period dramas and taking her French bulldog on canal walks.
Past Members
Dr Rebacca Andrews
PhD Student 2019/23
Rebecca completed her MChem degree at the University of Huddersfield, spending her fourth year preparing self-assembled supramolecular hosts to sequester anions from aqueous solutions.
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Her PhD is focused on biomolecule encapsulation within metal-organic materials.
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Rebecca is from Bradford and enjoys drinking Yorkshire tea, watching period dramas and taking her French bulldog on canal walks.
Dr Daniel Bell
PDRA 2022/23
PhD Student 2018/22
Dan spent four years at the University of Leeds completing his MChem degree with a final year research project in the Halcrow group on spin-crossover tridentate Fe(II) complexes.
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His current research focuses on the synthesis multinuclear supramolecular architectures, comprising of lanthanide ions, for drug encapsulation, delivery and bio imaging.
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Dan enjoys playing PokemonGo, eating plastic cheese sandwiches and 5 packs of doughnuts from Morrisons.
Madison Newby
Rotation PhD student
2021/22
Maddie completed her BSc in Chemistry at the University of Bristol to devise a new computational laboratory exercise for second-year undergraduate students under the supervision of Dr Natalie Fey. Maddie continued her studies at Bristol to do a Masters by Research project which was co-supervised by Dr Natalie Fey and Professor Paul Pringle. The MRes project consisted of the synthesis of new fluorophosphite ligands for use in rhodium-catalysed hydroformylation reactions, and the addition of these ligands to a ligand knowledge base (LKB-P).
Maddie is continuing the work of Lauren, a previous member of the Riddell group, whereby she is assembling cages with bipy and imidazole-based ligands around a variety of metals to form a trigonal bipyramidal complex.
Outside of the lab, Maddie regularly trains in cheerleading and dance, and during the holidays she works as a Tesco delivery driver.
Dukula De Alwis Jayasinghe
MChem Student 2021/22
Dukula is working on trigonal bipyramidal architectures with potential in catalytic applications for his MChem project. Previously, he has worked with Dr. Sihai Yang on porous materials for gaseous ammonia adsorption, and with Prof. David Mills on f - elemental silicon chemistry.
Dukula comes from Sri Lanka and came to Manchester in 2018 and fell in love with the city ever since. In his free time, Dukula can be found watching classical films or fueling his coffee addiction in the local cafe.
Dr Maria Lizio
PDRA 2021/22
Maria completed her undergraduate degree in Italy (Naples) before moving to Manchester for her PhD working under the supervision of Prof Simon J. Webb. Her PhD focused on understanding the interaction of antimicrobial peptides with lipid vesicles using a combination of chiral and achiral spectroscopy techniques. In the last two years, she worked with Prof Ioan Notingher at the University of Nottingham towards building a device for intraoperative assessment of breast cancer margin using Raman spectroscopy and Total Internal Reflection.
At Manchester, Maria's research is focused on studying the encapsulation and stabilisation of proteins within supramolecular structures focusing on understanding the encapsulated species behaviour within the structures.
In her spare time Maria enjoys hyper realistic drawings, travel and watching k-drama.
Lauren Taylor
PhD Student 2017/21
Lauren is originally from Manchester and before moving back for her PhD, she spent four years at The University of Leeds completing her MChem degree.
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Lauren's research is focused on transition meta
coordination chemistry and site specific binding of
metals in self-assembly reactions with asymmetric
ligands.​
Lauren enjoys playing Korfball, watching true crime documentaries and drinking wine.
Luyi Xu
PGT Student 2021
Luyi completed her bachelor's degree in Zhejiang, China, where she studied applied chemistry. She got her master's degree at Manchester.
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Luyi enjoys cooking Chinese food and having a simple cocktail before bed.
Dr Jonathan Robson
PDRA 2019/21
Jonathan's research was focused on the encapsulation and stabilisation of proteins within supramolecular structures. This project aimed to retain the original structure of proteins whilst allowing them to exist outside of biological systems.
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Johnathan is now a PDRA at TU Munich in the Casini group, researching biomedical applications of supramolecular coordination complexes
In his spare time Jonathan enjoys drinking blush rosé and watching the real housewives franchise.
William Leising
MChem Student 2019/20
Will studied for his MChem degree here at Manchester University where he worked closely with Lauren and Jonathan, researching the self-assembly of heterometallic cages.
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Will was born in America but is from the Wirral. When he's not doing chemistry, he enjoys having a gin and tonic whilst watching the football.
Chuanyuan Ni
PGT Masters Student 2019
Chuanyuan spent four years at the Shanghai Institute of Technology in China where he studies for his bachelors in analytical chemistry.
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He is originally from Linyi in Shandong province and moved to Manchester to study for his Masters degree, where his research focuses on the design of biocompatible metal-organic materials.
April Sung
MChem Student 2018/19
April worked on the synthesis of metal organic cages with Lauren's help. Outside of the lab, April enjoys drawing, travelling and drinking excessive amounts of tea.
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Fun fact: April was born in.... APRIL
Liam Farrell
MChem Student 2018/19
Liam is originally from Liverpool but studied for his undergraduate degree here at The University of Manchester. His research as part of the Riddell group focused primarily on biomimetic crystallisation techniques to encapsulate and further stabilise protein molecules.
Siyuan studied for his BSc at the University of Durham before coming to Manchester to obtain his Masters degree. Siyuan's work involved modification of organic ligands for self-assembly with iron(II).
Siyuan Wang
PGT Masters Student 2018
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