Congratulations to Kirsten who has won best poster prize at the RSC Organic Division Regional Meeting in March 2019.
We welcome Laksamee Jeanmard who has joined the group for PhD studies in March 2019.
Congratulations to Giacomo who has successfully defended his PhD thesis on 12th March 2019.
Athanasia Agora and Khadra Alomari joined the group in Jan 2019 to study for a MSc(Res) and PhD respectively.
Paul gave an invited lecture at the Royal Australian Chemical Institute's Organic 18 Conference in Perth in Dec 2018.
Chris and Kirsten presented posters at the RSC Organic Division Poster Symposium in London on 3rd Dec 2018.
Congratulation Kirsten, who won a poster prize at the RSC Materials Division Poster Symposium in London.
We welcome new research students to the group, Alex Brown and Zamin Khan our MChem project students, Saikiran Ravi a MSc(Res) student and Suresh Shinde a PhD student who all joined on 24th Sept 2018.
Congratulations Sam Griggs who passed his PhD viva on 6th Sept 2018.
Sam Griggs leaves the group to take up a PDRA position the group of Prof. Marsden and Nelson at the University of Leeds. Best if luck for the future Sam. The group will miss your yellow trackie bottoms for sure!
Sam Griggs wins the Rodger Mawby Demonstrator of the Year award: This is the department's premier event for recognising excellence in postgraduate demonstrators. Well done Sam.
Bastien Duchadeau leaves the group after 6 months as an ERASMUS+ visitor. Best of luck for the future.
Giacomo wins a prize at the SCI Postgraduate Research Symposium: Held in Newcastle April 2018, Giacomo took home the prize after giving a lecture on his route towards a total synthesis of anthracimycin. Congratulations Giacomo!
Paul's research visit to Australia: Paul has spent 6 weeks (March-April 2018) on an EPSRC-funded research trip to the group of Prof. Mick Sherburn at the Australian National University to learn about dendralene chemistry and build a collaboration between ANU and York.
Welcome Bastien Duchadeau who joins the group as an ERASMUS visiting researcher.
We bid a fond farewell to Dr. Ian George who leaves the group after 3 years. We wish him all the best with his new appointment in Sweden.
Congratulations Yin-Ting who successfully defended her PhD thesis on 11th Dec. We wish her all the best as she moves back to Taiwan.
Congratulations and well done Andy Steer who successfully defended his PhD thesis on 13th Oct 2017. Andy's career takes him down south to work as a synthetic chemist for Concept Life Sciences.
Welcome Nikolaos Vagkidis who joins the group to study for a MSc(Res).
Paul has joined the editorial board of the journal Life. Life is an open access journal publishign papers in the area of prebiotic chemistry and origins of life.
Paul now consults for Vertex Pharmaceuticals on potential routes to saturated heterocyclic molecules.
Group team building day at York Escape Rooms resulted in 2/3rds of the group making it out!
Sam Griggs gave an invited lecture at 2017 RSC Grasmere conference on heterocyclic chemistry.
Andrew Steer appeared on the BBC Quiz show Who Dares Wins on 8th April.
Paul attended and gave a lecture at the EU COST ORIGINS Meeting in Warsaw, Poland (3rd-7th April). His lecture was entitled "Prebiotic One-Pot Asymmetric Synthesis of 2-Deoxyribose"
Congratulations and well done Sam Griggs on winning the SCI Student Research Symposium for his lecture on "An Aza-Maitland-Japp Inspired Synthesis of 2-spiropiperidine Scaffolds".
The group attended the RSC Regional Meeting in Durham on 29th March. Ian, Sam and Giacomo all presented posters.
Paul gave an invited lecture on "New Strategies for the Stereoselective Synthesis of Functionalised THPs" at Vertex Pharmaceuticals on 27th March.
We bid a fond farewell to Yin-Ting who leaves the group to go back to Taiwan. Good luck for the writing up.
Welcome to Pavan, who joined the group in Jan 2017 to study for a MSc(Research).
Congratulations to Josh and Nadiah, who both passed their PhD vivas on 22nd Nov 2016. Josh is starting as a trainee patent lawyer and Nadiah is heading back to Malaysia for a career in academia. All the best for the future and keep in touch!
The group welcomes Connor Prior and Oliver Trimble, who join as MChem project students.
The group welcomes Chris Maddocks and Kirsten Hawkins, who join the group to start PhDs into the synthesis of piperidines and prebiotic chemistry respectively.
Paul has been on a NASA Exobiology grant review panel in Phoenix, Arizona 2nd-7th Oct 2016. He made lots of good contacts and got to see some excellent science in the area of prebiotic chemistry.
Welcome back Sam, who returns to the lab after his CASE placement at GSK.
The group welcomes Neils Koning, who joins as an ERASMUS exchange student from the Netherlands. He's working an the asymmetric synthesis of a key intermediate in the group's synthesis of anthracimycin.
Ian George gave a poster presentation at the postdoctoral poster symposium at the University of York.
Sam Griggs gave a flash talk at the postgraduate symposium held at the University of Oxford.
Paul is on a lecture tour of Australia and Singapore. He is giving lectures at the University of Queensland, Australian National University, The University of Sydney and Nanyang Technological University over July 2016.
Paul attended and gave a lecture at the Heron7 meeting on Unusual Molecules and Reactive Intermediates, 9th-15th July 2016.
Sam Griggs is spending the summer at GSK as part of his CASE award. He'll be back in York in October.
Paul attended the Tetrahedron Conference in Sitges, 28th April-1st May 2016.
The group welcomes Marie Fabre, who joins as an ERASMUS exchange student from France.
Sam Griggs won a poster prize at the RSC Regional Meeting in Newcastle (6th April 2016). Andy, Nadiah and Yin-Ting also presented posters.
Paul lectured at the RSC Regional Meeting in Newcastle on 6th April 2016 on the Prebiotic Synthesis of Carbohydrates.
Sam Griggs is presenting at poster at the EU Lead Factory meeting in Barcelona (20th-23rd Jan 2016) on the synthesis of spirocyclic piperidines.
Andrew Steer is presenting at poster on the prebiotic synthesis of 2-deoxy-D-ribose at the Gordon Research Conference (15th-23rd Jan 2016) on the Origins of Life in Texas.
Welcome to new group members Giacomo Lodovici and Haonan Yuan
who join the group as PhD students and to Zhao Yuxiong (Eli), a Masters by Research student.
The group is joined by Connor and Luke two undergraduate summer students. Both are working on projects related to the group's total synthesis endeavours.
The group says goodbye to Nicolas Bia who left after a 4 month placement to continue his studies back in France. While he was in the group, Nico investigated the prebiotic synthesis of carbohydrates.
Paul attended the RSC Synthesis in Organic Chemistry Conference in Cambridge.
Josh presented a poster on his PhD work at the RSC Synthesis in Organic Chemistry Conference in Cambridge
The group welcomes Nicolas Bia, who joins as an ERASMUS exchange student from France.
Welcome to the group, Ian. Ian George joined the group in Jan 2015 to work on a new project aimed at the total synthesis of the antibiotic natural product anthracimycin
Congratulations Kris! on passing his PhD viva on 12th Dec 2014. Well deserved. We wish him all the best for the future.
Paul is giving a "Pint of Science" lecture at the Glasshouse Bar, Langwith College, The University of York on Mon 20th Oct at 7:30pm on "Chirality, Organic Synthesis and the Meaning of Life". Hope to see you all there!
Postdoc position in the group has just been advertised. Formal applications can be made via https://jobs.york.ac.ukuntil 31st Oct 2014.
Fond farewell to Kristaps Ermanis who leaves the group this week to start a postdoc with Prof. Jonathan Goodman at Cambridge.
A warm welcome to Sam Griggs who joined the group this week to study for a PhD.
Paul has been interviewed by Chemistry World for a podcast feature on the Total Synthesis of Natural Products. You'll be able to download it from their website from Sept 2014.
EPSRC has funded the Clarke Group for 3 years to investigate "A New Front in the War on Superbugs: Synthetic and Biological Studies on the Potent Antibiotic Anthracimycin"
Congratulations Josh, who won best student research talk at the FERA CASE student conference in June 2014. Time for a celebratory beer!
The group welcomes Charline Doublet who joined the group as an ERASMUS exchange student at the end of June 2014.
Kris gave his KMS award lecture to the department on 9th Oct 2013: Towards the Total Synthesis of Phorboxazole B. Excellent talk, Kris!
Welcome to Andrew Steer and Yin-Ting Hsiao who joined the group today to study for a PhD and MSc (research) respectively.
GlaxoSmithKline agree to fund a PhD project on the "Maitland-Japp Inspired Synthesis of Structurally Diverse 3D-Heterocyclic Fragments" The project will start Oct 2014 and interested applicants should apply through the University's application portal. http://www.york.ac.uk/chemistry/postgraduate/apply/
Paul Clarke won 'Highly commended for the use of Technology in Teaching' at the 2013 YUSU Excellence in Teaching awards for his "creation of the hashtag #alkene_alkyne for students to easily ask him questions and receive a quick response" and "...use of twitter and the internet, combined with his engaging lecturing style, made the course very interactive and other students and I very much enjoyed the course".
Congratulations Kris! On winning the Department of Chemistry's prestigious KMS Prize. Kris will give an award lecture to the department in October.
During June 2013, Paul has given lectures at AstraZeneca, Sweden which was funded by the EPSRC to enhance Industry-Academia cooperation and at the Imperial College Hofmann Symposium.
Paul has joined the editorial board of the international open access journal Advances in Chemistry.
Paul has been invited to lecture at the RSC Grasmere meeting in the Lake District in May 2013.
Paul Clarke will be on an invited lecture tour of Paris in April 2013.
Kris has been selected to present his work as a lecture at the SCI regional postgraduate meeting in Leeds in April. Good Luck!
Farewell Kaya and Good Luck for the final 6 months of your degree back in Germany.
Welcome to Nadiah Mad Nasir who joined the group in Jan 2013 to study for a PhD.
Kris was selected to present his work as a poster at the SCI Yorks and Humber Section annual meeting in Huddersfield on 12th Dec 2012.
Champagne corks popped for Phil who passed his PhD viva on 7th Dec 2012. Congratulations!
Kris was selected to present his work at the RSC Organic Poster Symposium at Burlington House, London. He was one of only 33 PhD students to be chosen for this prestigious event. Well done Kris.
Welcome to Ugur Kaya an ERASMUS student from Aachen who has joined the group to conduct a 6 month research project.
Welcome to Josh Smith who joined the group in Oct 2012 to study for a PhD.
Funding success! The group starts a collaboration with FERA and Peter O'Brien on the synthesis of alkaloids of environmental interest.
Well done Bun who passed his MPhil viva in Sept 2012. Bun is moving back home to Hong Kong and we wish him all the best for the future.
Paul Clarke attended the Apeldoorn Conference on "Higher Education at the Heart of Growth". He was one of only 100 delegates invited to discuss and develop policy for consideration by the Governments of the UK and the Netherlands.
The Daily Mail Newspaper ran a story on some of the group's research on the prebiotic genesis of carbohydrates. Congratulations to Laurence who is the only group member to have been cited by a national newspaper! The Daily Mail article can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/83pkuhd and the original paper here: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2011/ob/c1ob06798b
Congratulations Laurence and Joby who passed their PhD vivas in Nov 2011.
Well done Nimesh who was appointed as an organic chemistry teaching fellow at the University of York in Oct 2011. Is Nimesh a poacher turned gamekeeper?
Congratulations Mudassar, Andrew and Nimesh who all passed their PhD vivas in Dec 2010. Mudassar is taking up an academic position in Pakistan, Andrew is considering the opportunities a PhD gives him and Nimesh is rejoining the group in Jan 2011 as a Wellcome VIP Fellow.
The Group Welcomes Kristaps Ermanis and Bun Yeung who joined the group in Oct 2010 to conduct postgraduate research.
The Group's Paper on the Prebiotic Synthesis of (D)-Threose and (D)-Erythrose has been highlighted as a HOT ARTICLE on the Chem. Comm. website on 17th June 2010.
Well done Joby on winning first prize in the RSC organic division's regional meeting poster competition which was held in Durham on 15th April 2010.
Welcome to Nadia and Myriam who both joined the group as ERASMUS students in April.
Good Luck to Joby, who has been selected to give a lecture at the SCI postgraduate symposium in Manchester on 31st March 2010.
Good Luck for the Future Elin. Elin left the group at the end of 2009. She has now moved to Germany to continue her career.
Congratulations Jason! Jason Hargreaves has been awarded a PhD in Nov 2009 for his work on the total synthesis of phorboxazole B. Jason is off to a postdoctoral research position in Paris, France, in Feb 2010.
The Group Welcomes Zhuo Ma, who has joined the group in Oct 2009, from China to study for a PhD.
Dr. Paul Clarke has been made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Welcome to Dominik Bucher who joined the group as a visiting student from Munich in Sept 2009 for 8 weeks.
The Group's method for the PASE synthesis of piperidines detailed in Tetrahedron Lett. 2007, 48, 5209 has been used by Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India to synthesise compounds with sub-micromolar anti-malarial activity. See Bioorg. Med. Chem. 2009, 17, 625.
Congratulations to Soraia and Gabriele who were both awarded their PhDs in November 2008. Soraia is continuing to work at Peakdale, while Gabriele has moved back to Italy to take up a postdoctoral research position.
Group's Paper on the Four-Component Piperidine Synthesis has been highlighted in Synfacts 2008, 11, 1026.
Welcome to Philip Sellars who joined the group as a PhD student in Oct 2008.
Dr. Paul Clarke is on a lecture tour of Australia in August 2008, and will be presenting a lecture at the Heron Island conference on Radical Chemistry.
Welcome to Dr. Elin Abraham who joined the group in May 2008. Elin is working on the total synthesis of phorboxazole B.
Good Luck and Best Wishes to Soraia, Gabriele and Maggie who left the group at the end of 2007. Soraia and Gabriele have secured jobs at Peakdale and Maggie is starting a PhD at Cambridge in the New Year.
Welcome to Dr. Dan Woollaston who joined the group in Jan 2008.
Group's Paper on the Pot, Atom and Step Ecomonic (PASE) synthesis of highly substituted piperidines has been highlighted in Synfacts 2007, 10, 1031.
Welcome to Joby Winn and Laurence Burroughs who joined the group in Oct 2007 as PhD students.
EPSRC funds a research grant for a postdoc and student to conduct the total synthesis of the pinguisane-type sesquiterpenoid natural products. The grant starts Oct 1st 2007.
Dr. Paul Clarke will be giving his Roche Lecture at the Roche site in Basel, Switzerland on 24th Sept. The lecture is entitled "Novel Annelation and Transannelation Strategies for the Synthesis of Natural Products".
Congratulations Andrew! Andrew Cridland was awarded a PhD on 24th July 2007, for his work on the synthesis of the ABC-rings of hexacyclinic acid. Andy is now working at the GSK site in Harlow, UK.
Dr. Paul Clarke is giving an invited lecture at the US-UK Synthesis workshop in San Francisco in July/August 2007.
Dr. Paul Clarke is on a lecture tour of Australia in June and July 2007, and will be presenting a lecture at the Heron-4 conference on "Synthesis and Mechanism: Reactive Intermediates and Unusual Molecules"
Florie Lavigne joined the group in April 2007 as an Erasmus exchange student.
Good luck Wencke. Wencke left the group at the end of April 2007 after working in the group for two years. We wish Wencke all the best for the future.
Gabriele Rolla and Soraia Santos presented posters at the ACS meeting in Chicago in March 2007.
Mudassar Iqbal joined the group in Jan 2007 as a Higher Education Commission of Pakistan 10% Overseas Scholar, studying towards a PhD.
Dr. Paul Clarke awarded a Pfizer bursary for the 2007 RSC Cambridge Synthesis Meeting.
Congratulations! Richard Black awarded a PhD on 13th November 2006, for his work on the transannulation reactions of nine membered rings and their application to natural product synthesis. Richard is moving to Australia in 2007 to conduct postdoctoral research.
We are please to welcome Andrew Reeder, Nimesh Mistry, Dr. Andrey Zaytzev and Mei-Hsuan Tsai who joined the group on 2nd Oct 2006.
Good luck Mat. Mat Vale left the group at the end of July 2006 to embark upon a postgraduate medical degree at Newcastle. We wish Mat all the best for the future and his new career.
Goodbye Nigel. Nigel Bainbridge left the group at the end of June 2006 to take up a position as a research chemist at Evotec. We wish Nigel all the best in his new job.
Congratulations Andrew! Andrew Cridland has secured a job as a medicinal chemist at GSK, Harlow. Andy will start work at GSK after he has finished his PhD studies in January 2007.
Dr. Paul Clarke awarded an AstraZeneca collaborative research award starting Oct 2006.
Andrew Cridland gave a lecture on his research at the SCI (North) postgraduate meeting in York on 19th April 2006.
Alastair Wilcox will join the group in Jan 2006.
The Clarke Group is moving to the University of York. From Jan 2006, the group will be based in the Department of Chemistry at the University of York. Applications for postdoctoral and Ph.D. positions in the group at York are welcome. Please contact us if you would like more information.
Jason Hargreaves joined the group in October 2005.
EPSRC Grant awarded to fund postdoctoral research into Pot, Atom and Step Economic (PASE) synthesis of highly functionalised heterocyclic molecules.
Martin Smith awarded a PhD on 26th Sept 2005, for his work on the lanthanide (III) salt catalysed desymmetrisation of 1, 2-diols. Congratulations Martin.
Andrew Cridland wins the Leslie Crombie Prize for best poster at the School of Chemistry's annual postgraduate symposium on 16-17th June 2005.
Dr. Paul Clarke awarded the Roche, Basel Collaborative Research Award 2005, and the Roche, Basel Lectureship for 2007.
Dr. Wencke Steinle joins the group in May 2005, to work on the total synthesis of the marine natural product phorboxazole A.
Congratulations! Will Martin awarded a PhD on 9th March 2005, for his work on the revisited Maitland-Japp reaction, which constructs highly substituted tetrahydropyrans rings in a single pot. Will has now joined the group of Prof. Blechert in Berlin.
EPSRC Postdoc and Studentship Grant awarded to fund research into the total synthesis of the potent anti-cancer natural product phorboxazole A.
Dr. Nigel Bainbridge will join the group in January 2005, to work on the total synthesis of Hexacyclinic acid and FR182877.
Gabriele Rolla and Soraia Santos joined the group in October 2004.
EPSRC Postdoc and Studentship Grant awarded for studies on the total synthesis of FR182877 and hexacyclinic acid.
Becky Davie awarded a PhD on 16th July 2004, for her work on the Diels-Alder and rearrangement reactions of 6-fumaryl 1,3,8-nonatrienes, as an approach to the B-ring of FR182877. Congratulations Becky!
Will Martin wins First Prize for an oral presentation on his Ph.D. research at the School of Chemistry's annual postgraduate symposium on 17-18th June 2004.
Matthew Grist awarded a PhD for his work on a novel transannular iodocyclisation approach to the DEF-ring cores of the natural products hexacyclinic acid and FR182877 on Wednesday 21st April 2004. Congratulations Matt!
Will Martin wins First Prize for an oral presentation on his Ph.D. research at the SCI postgraduate meeting (North) at the University of York on Monday 29th March 2004.
Dr. Paul Clarke awarded the AstraZeneca Young Investigator Unrestricted Research Award 2003-2005.
