2024

• November -- Several members of the group attended the NZIC conference in Dunedin. Dan and Alexis presented talks on our kinase inhibitor work, while former Foley lab PhD student, Sushant, presented a talk on our hydantoin synthesis work. Imogen and Josh also presented posters relating to the latter. Well done all!

• November -- Congratulations to Ben Hooper and Oli Spicer who have completed their Hons projects in our team.

• October -- Congratulations to Josh Hughes, who won the Ralph Earle prize for the best second year PhD talk, and Imogen Alderson, who won the NZIC-sponsored prize for the best third year talk in this year's School of Physical and Chemical Sciences Postgraduate Showcase!

• October -- NEW REVIEW! Finlay's review on site-selective modifications of the cinchona alkaloids has been accepted in the Asian Journal of Organic Chemistry! Link here: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajoc.202400397

• October -- group alumnus Finlay Player has started his PhD in the group of Prof. Robert Phipps at the University of Cambridge as a Cambridge International Scholar -- best of luck Finlay!

• May -- NEW PAPER! Congratulations to Max and Imogen, who's paper has been accepted in the European Journal of Organic Chemistry! Link here: https://doi.org/10.1002/ejoc.202400295

• May -- Farewell to Sushant, who has moved to Dunedin to start a postdoc with A/Prof. Allan Gamble at the University of Otago, and to Sven, who returns to the University of Kiel following his PhD secondment in our team. Wishing you the very best for the future!

• March -- Congratulations to Sushant Aryal upon successful completion of his PhD viva!

• March -- NEW PAPER! Congratulations to Aggie and Finlay, who's paper has been accepted in Advanced Synthesis and Catalysis! This work was completed in collaboration with Dist. Prof. Vicky Avery for antimalarial screening. You can read this work here: https://doi.org/10.1002/adsc.202301458.

• February – Finlay and Joseph have departed our team and UC for new adventures. We wish them the very best!

• February – Sven Herschel has joined our team as visiting PhD student from Prof. Dennis Schade’s group at the University of Kiel, Germany, for a 3-month DAAD-sponsored placement. Welcome Sven!

 

2023

• December – Congratulations to Max Caplin upon successful completion of his PhD viva! Max will be the first student to graduate from our team.

• December – Congratulations to our team members, Toby McDonald, who has won the Ralph Earle prize for the best second year PhD talk, and Josh Hughes, who has won the prize for the best first year poster in the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences Postgraduate Showcase 2023.

• November -- Congratulations to Finlay Player who has completed his Hons project in our team.

• November – Ben Hooper, Finlay Player, and Joseph Stephens have re/joined our team for summer placements – best of luck with your projects!

• August – Farewell to Max, who has returned to the UK to finish writing his thesis.

• July – Josh Hughes has rejoined our team as a PhD student.

• June – NEW PAPER! Congratulations to Sushant, who’s paper on the asymmetric synthesis of hydantoins has just been accepted in Chemical Science! You can read this here: https://doi.org/10.1039/D3SC01656K. This is the first primary research paper from our team.

• June – Farewell to Dr Aggie Lawer who is moving to a postdoc with Prof. Richard Payne (UNSW). We wish you all the best in Sydney!

• February – Finlay Player has returned to our team as an Honours student. Best of luck Finlay!

• January – Jiakun Zhang has joined our team as a PhD student.

 

2022

• December – Congratulations to Alexis Blackie who won the prize for the best first year poster in the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences Postgraduate Showcase 2022, sponsored by the RSC.

• November – Max and Sushant presented their research at the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry conference this month in Auckland.

• November – Finlay Player has rejoined our team for a 10-week BIC sponsored summer placement. Welcome back Finlay!

• November -- Congratulations to Josh Hughes and Daniel Small who have completed their Hons projects in our team.

• July – Imogen Alderson has rejoined our team as a PhD student.

• June – NEW REVIEW! Alexis’ review on CLK kinases has been accepted for publication in Bioorg. Med. Chem.! You can read this here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmc.2022.116914.

• April – Dr Aggie Lawer has joined our team as a CMRF sponsored postdoc for 14 months.

• February – Josh Hughes and Daniel Small have returned to our team as Honours students. Daniel’s main supervisor is Dr Jodie Johnston. Good luck Josh and Daniel!

• January – Daniel Chong has joined our team for a 4-week CHEM329 project. Welcome Daniel!

• January – Alexis Blackie and Toby McDonald have rejoined our team as PhD students.

 

2021

• November – Congratulations to Max Caplin who has won the prize for the best third year talk in the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences Postgraduate Showcase 2021, sponsored by the NZIC.

• November – Daniel Small and Finlay Player have joined our team for a 10-week summer project. Welcome Daniel and Finlay!

• November -- Congratulations to Imogen Alderson, Alexis Blackie, and Toby McDonald who have completed their Hons projects in our team.

• July – Josh Hughes has joined our team for a CHEM329 project throughout Semester 2. Welcome Josh!

• February – Imogen Alderson, Alexis Blackie, and Toby McDonald have re/joined our team for their Honours projects – welcome all and best of luck with your projects!

• February – NEW REVIEW! Dan and Max’s review on functionalising 3D fragments has been accepted for publication in Chemical Science! You can read this here: https://doi.org/10.1039/D1SC00161B.

• January – Colter Carson has joined our team for a 4-week CHEM329 project. Welcome Colter!

• January – Jerram Wood has returned to our team for a 5-week summer placement.

• January – Alexis Blackie has returned to our team for a 10-week BIC sponsored summer placement. Welcome back Alexis!

 

2020

• November -- Congratulations to Jerram Wood has has completed his Hons project in our team.

• July – Jerram has been awarded BIC funding for an MSc starting in 2021 – congratulations Jerram.

• February – Jerram has returned to our team as an Honours student. Good luck Jerram!

• February – Sushant Aryal has joined our team as a PhD student.

• January – Jerram Wood has joined our team for a 10-week CMRF and BIC co-sponsored summer scholarship.

• January – Alexis Blackie has joined our team for a 4-week CHEM329 project.

 

 

2019

• September – Max Caplin has joined the Foley Research Team as our first PhD student.

 

2018

• September – Dan has joined the School of Physical and Chemical Sciences at the University of Canterbury!