People

Hawazin A Alnafisah looked at self-assembled redox active anion receptors. She then became joined the faculty at Princess Nora Bint Abdulrahman University.

Charlotte Kiker was jointly supervised by Dr Jona Foster working on metal complexes that could be appended to surfaces. She is now a secondary school teacher. 

Kirsty Smitten developed antimicrobial leads in her PhD. After which she was the CEO of the Thomas Group spin-out MetalloBio Ltd which is commercializing the leads. She died from complications caused by primary cardiac sarcoma in October 2023. Read more about this inspirational scientist here

Sam Ashworth worked on new ruthenium-based DNA-intercalators that could be easily derivatised. He works for UK scientific civil service.

Rachel Mowll was co-supervised with Prof Carl Smythe (BMS). Her PhD work involved detailed studies on the cytotoxicity mechanisms of Ru-based anticancer therapeutics. She now works for the NHS in Manchester.

Tom Andrews made  lot of new metallo-intercalators during his PhD. He currently works for the University of Sheffield’s Admission team and he can still tell you a lot about bicycles.

Sasha Stimpson After her PhD, studying photoactive Ir(II) complexes that interact with DNA, took her to Canberra and.... Reading, Sasha moved into a career with the European pharmaceutical company Chiesi Ltd.

Sree Sreedharan's PhD  on super-resolution imaging was funded by the University of Sheffield’s Imagine: Imaging Life program. He has now taken up a postdoctoral position at the Department of Oncology at the University of Oxford.

Stuart Archer carried out postdoctoral work on the synthesis photophysical and biophysical properties of DNA-targeting theranostics. He is now a Research Development Officer at the University of Derby.

Hiwa Saeed did a PhD project funded by Kurdistan Regional Government that was based on heteroleptic metal complexes as bioprobes and phototherapeutics. Following postdoctoral positions at the University of Cardiff,  and the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hiwa is now a postdoctoral fellow at CUNY, in New York.

Paul Jarman looked at therapeutic leads based on hetero-bimetallic metal complexes during his PhD. After continuing the project though postdoctoral work with Prof Carl Smythe (BMS), he is now working for a wildlife charity.

Mike Walker carried out a PhD and then did postdoctoral work within the group on a variety of photoactive sensors and photo-therapeutics. After leaving Sheffield, he initially worked for biopharmaceutical company Arecor Limited but now works in research at the biotechnology company Illumina in Cambridge.

Caroline Glover did a PhD on the cellular imaging properties of individual stereoisomers of dinuclear ruthenium complexes and also investigate their cancer cell uptake. After working for a period as a Research Funding Manager for Cancer Research UK, she moved on to a similar position at the Babraham Institute, Cambridge.

Ash Wragg worked on iridium and osmium complexes for TEM and optical imaging. Following postdoctoral research with Prof Mike Ward in this department, Ash went on to train as a Patent Attorney.

Martin Gill spent his PhD, and postdoctoral time, looking at the in cellulo applications of luminescent ruthenium complexes. At various times he was also co-supervised by Prof. Beppe Battaglia , who is now at UCL, and Prof Carl Smythe. After a further postdoc position at the Department of Oncology at The University of Oxford, Martin is now a lecturer in Chemistry at Swansea University in his native Wales.

Tom Wilson spent a lot of his time working with Professor Mike Williamson (MBB), carrying out detailed NMR studies on metal complexes that bind to DNA quadruplex structures. He now works as a manager within the petrochemical industry.

Ahmed Zubi joined the group on a Libyan Government PhD scholarship. He investigated the host-guest chemistry of self-assembling mixed-valence  macrocycles. He has taken up a university lectureship in Libya.

Hanan Derrat also joined the group on a Libyan Government PhD scholarship. She investigated the theranostic properties of luminescent metallointercalators. She has also taken up a university lectureship in Libya at her home town of Misrata.

Adel Mlitan joined the group on a Libyan Government PhD scholarship like Hanan and Ahmed. During his PhD he investigated ruthenium(II)-based as potential therapeutic leads and has also taken up a lectureship in Misrata.

Haslina Ahmad. Ina’s PhD - on self-assembling metallomacrocycles that bind bio-anions - was funded by the Government of Malaysia and she went back home to take up a lectureship at Universiti Putra Malaysia.

James Ingram worked oligonuclear RuII thiacrown complexes containing redox active bridging ligands. His PhD was co-supervised by Prof Mike Ward. He now works as a manager in London Transport

Pattubala Reddy was funded by an EU Marie Curie Incoming International Fellowship. His project was based around singlet oxygen sensitising complexes. He went on to further postdoctoral research in South Korea and is now working in Higher Education in India.

Phil Waywell’s PhD was also jointly supervised by Professor Mike Williamson. His PhD involved NMR studies on dppz-based metallointercalators. Phil has gone on to work in university business management.

Dipesh Ghosh was awarded a Royal Society postdoctoral fellowship to work within the group on metallomacrocycles that bind DNA. He is now an Assistant Professor at Vivekananda Mission Mahavidyalaya College in West Bengal, India.

Simon Foxton. During his BBSRC funded postdoctoral position, Simon developed bis-intercalating dinuclear complexes and singlet oxygen sensitisers. He went on to work with Dr Ben Coe at the University of Manchester. He has pursued a industrial research career in the development of next-generation battery technologies at Nexeon plc, and then ZapGo Ltd.

Chatna Rajput did biophysical studies on luminescent complexes that bind quadruplex DNA. After working as an assessor for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, she has gone on to be a Regulatory Project Manager at GSK.

Veronica Gonzalez came to the group on a undergraduate Erasmus scholarship. She stayed on to do a PhD on luminescent mixed motif DNA recognition complexes. She went on to postdoctoral research with Prof Rudolf Allemann at the University of Cardiff and is now a senior scientist at Immunocore Ltd.

Nazim Shan. Naz’s thesis was on the self-assembly of supramolecular structures from redox-active thiacrown ruthenium(II) complexes. Naz first went on to a teaching job, but after a change of career he is now a senior independent consultant in the energy industry.

Mike Newell carried out studies on novel mixed valence systems during his PhD. He went into a career in the nuclear energy industry and is now a senior safety consultant.

Clive Metcalfe started the group’s work on DNA binding agents and worked on ruthenium and rhenium complexes. Following postdoctoral work with Prof Emma Raven in Leicester and a research fellow at the Dunn School of Pathology at the University of Oxford, he is now a Senior Scientist in Biotherapeutics at the National Institute of Biological Standards and Control.

Sue Roche was the first member of the Thomas group and did all the initial work on thiacrown complexes of ruthenium. She went on to a career in the pharmaceutical industry.