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Current Members :

Prof. Mark Bradley
Principal Investigator :
Prof. Mark Bradley mark.bradley@ed.ac.uk
   
Research Fellow :
Dr. Rosario Sanchez-Martin
Post doctorate Fellows :
Dr. Juan Jose Diaz-Mochon Dr. Asier Unciti-Broceta Dr. Ferdous Khan
Dr. Rong Zhang Dr. Antonio Bella Dr. Ivan Trkulja
Dr.Miren Aiertza Otxotorena    
Graduate Students :
Adam Belsom Albert Liberski Aleksandra Liberska
Alessandra Chighine Antonio Fara Delphine Pouchain
Frank Bowler Geraldine Escher Gianluca Sechi
Graham Henderson Jose Pedrosa Juan Manuel Cardenas-Maestre
Lois Alexander Luciano Galveia Maria Lopalco
Mariona Valles Miret M. Rahimi Yusop Nina Svensen
Phillip Milnes Salvatore Pernagallo Songsak Planonth

Dr. Rosario Sanchez-Martin
Dr. Rosario Sanchez-Martin

Dr. Rosario M. Sanchez-Martin graduated in Pharmacy in 1997 from the University of Granada ( Spain ). Afterwards she started her PhD in Prof. Espinosas Group in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at Granada University where she worked in the design, synthesis and evaluation of novel inhibitors of the Ras/Choline Kinase pathway, as potential anti-cancer drugs. During her PhD she joined Prof. Barbe of Faculty of Pharmacy at Marseille (France) where she worked on the synthesis and evaluation of heterocyclic compounds as antimalarial drugs and Prof. Bradleys group at the University of Southampton (UK), where she worked in the synthesis and evaluation of peptoids as carrier systems, as a visiting researcher. In 2002, after completing her PhD at Granada University , she took on a position as a post-doctoral researcher in Prof. Bradleys group where she worked in the synthesis of transporters, capable of being able to be taken up by cells, and their subsequent functionalization with biomolecules for development as carrier systems. Recently, she started her own research project in collaboration with Prof. Bradley at the University of Edinburgh (UK) after she was awarded a Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship by the Royal Society for developing cell-based HT screening assays.

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Dr. Juan Jose Diaz-Mochon
Dr. Juan Jose Diaz-Mochon

Juanjo was born in 1973 in Jaen ( Spain ). He graduated in Granada in 1996 from the Pharmacy faculty. He spent one year as an Erasmus student in Perugia under the supervision of Prof. Pellicciari where he worked with bilial acid synthesis. He then started his PhD in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at Granada University where he worked on the design, synthesis and evaluation of novel inhibitors of the Ras/Cholin Kinase pathway, as potential anti-cancer drugs. During his PhD he joined Prof. Baraldi Group at Ferrara , where he worked on adenosinic antagonists and purine synthesis. In 2001 he completed his PhD at Granada University , followed by a short spell working for FAES , S.A. developing novel COX-2 inhibitors. In early 2002, he joined Prof. Bradley Group. His initial project included the use of DNA microarray technologies which has allowed them to interface DNA arrays with combinatorial libraries. PNA-encoded libraries were developed and successful used to study kinases and proteases for the very first time by Juanjo and Laurent Bialy, an important mention goes to Lise Keinicke . Currently 10,000 member libraries are being tested in order to profile different enzymes while other PNA-encoded strategies are being developed. One of the ongoing projects is the use of cell-based microarrays. Following the successful application of reverse transfection microarrays to study transfection agent libraries and the experience achieved by the Bradley group in the development of polymer arrays (see Guilhem Tourniaire profile), collaborations with Tim Elliot and Salim Khakoo are underway to exploit the huge potential of this technology.

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Dr. Asier Unciti-Broceta
Dr. Asier Unciti-Broceta

Asier was born in La Linea de la Concepcion, provincia de Cadiz, (Spain) in 1976. He happily lived in Algeciras (good weather, good beaches, and good food) until finishing High School in 1994. Then he moved to Granada (not so good weather, nor beaches, but snow, good parties and good food) to study Pharmacy. After graduation in 1999, he joined the Medicinal Chemistry Department of University of Granada to perform his main passion, research. Meanwhile he was looking for supports to start his doctorate (in Spain that is a challenge), he was working several months as a pharmacist in a hospital of Granada and in a pharmacy shop of Algeciras. Thanks to the Fundacion Ramon Areces grant, he could start to work in the Espinosa Group and thus drive his life to the world of the inventions. As a result, he did a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry in the University of Granada. His project was centered in the synthesis of new heterocyclic compounds as adenosine receptor antagonists. However, his principal goals were achieved in heterocyclic synthesis. During the second year of his PhD, Asier was in the Baraldi Group of the University of Ferrara ( Italy) for nine months, where he undoubtedly realized that researcher life was his life. In December 2004 he became Doctor of Philosophy and, finally, he joined the Bradley Group in July of 2005, in which he is developing new high-throughput transfection methods and gene delivery reagents.

Asier is a voyager. He has been in the most important and beautiful European cities and, with a few exceptions, in its respective major festivities (Carnavales de Cadiz, Carnivale di Venezia, Fallas de Valencia, San Fermines de Pamplona, Feria de Sevilla, Feria de Malaga, Corpus and Cruces de Granada, St Patrick Day of Dublin, Primo Maggio di Roma, Ombralonga di Treviso, Palio di Siena, Festival of Edinburgh, etc) because he loves researching new places and new people.

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Dr. Ferdous Khan
Dr. Ferdous Khan

Ferdous joint the group in March 2006 after a postdoctoral fellow at Carleton University ( Canada ). He studied the “Structure / morphology and properties of polymers, smart materials and composites, solvent-induced crystallization / phase separation, polymer blends, Influence of supercritical fluids on the properties of polymers, and computational modelling” during his fellowship at Carleton. In 1999, he earned his PhD degree from Cranfield University (UK) in the area of polymer science. He received his post-secondary education from Dhaka University in Bangladesh . Currently, he is investigating the “Polymeric Vehicles for Cellular Delivery and Gene Therapy” mainly based on biodegradable polymer and stem cells.

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Dr. Rong Zhang
Dr. Rong Zhang

Rong Zhang (Li-zhong Zhang) was born in Chongqing, China. He graduated from the Sichuan University in polymer chemistry and engineering in 1992. He obtained his M.Sc degree from the Chengdu Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1995, and then he worked until 2000. In 2003, Rong earned his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from Sheffield University in the area of the conducting polymer composites, under the Supervision of Professor Peter V. Wright. Since then he was employed as a postdoc in the same department. He joined Professor Bradley group in 2006. His project is mainly about the developing biocompatible polymer micro-arrays for cellular growth and release with applied stimuli.

In his spare time he likes hiking, playing badminton, reading, talking and playing games with his daughter.

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Dr. Antonio Bella
Dr. Antonio Bella

Antonio F. Bella was born in S. Lucia del Mela, a small medieval town on the Northeast coast of Sicily , ( Italy ). He graduated in Chemistry at the University of Messina . After graduation he briefly joined the Italian forces where he was trained in handling explosive materials as Artificere in a military school. Here he obtained a certificate in manipulation of explosives. In 2003, he gained his PhD from the University of St. Andrews (UK), in Organic Synthesis, Radical Chemistry and EPR Spectroscopy, under the supervision of Prof. John C. Walton. In 2004, Antonio joined Prof. Carmen’s Claver group with a Marie Curie Postdoctoral fellowship, at the University Rovira I Virgili, Tarragona , Spain . The project was part of the “Palladium Network” inside the European fifth framework, in the field of Homogeneous Catalysis. Due to his interest in Life Sciences, in September 2006 he started postdoctoral studies in Prof. Mark Bradley’s group at the University of Edinburgh, UK. His project is part of a multidisciplinary consortium linking materials science, through chemistry with molecular and chemical biology and stem cell biology. The team will develop encoded delivery mechanisms for biological macromolecules and phenotypic based screens in ES cells. In his spare time Antonio enjoys a variety of sports, he likes travelling, clubbing and all consequences that might derive.

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Dr. Ivan Trkulja
Dr. Ivan Trkulja

Ivan grew up in Belgrade where he completed his studies in Organic Chemical Engineering. After one year internship at Division for Musculoskeletal Diseases of Novartis Pharma in Basel (2002), he moved to Robert Haener's group at the University of Bern where he did his Ph.D. in Chemistry of DNA Triple Helixes. He joined the group as in September 2007 and is enjoying life in Edinburgh.

Ivan likes travelling, learning foreign languages, cinema and cooking specialties from the Balkans.

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Adam Belsom
Adam Belsom

Adam was born in Ashford , Kent (1981) and grew up in the area known as The Garden of England, famous for its white cliffs and stoic people. He graduated with a double honours degree in Chemistry and Biochemisty from the University of Southampton in 2004. Adam travelled to the American Midwest where he worked as a salesperson before arriving back in the UK working as a peptide chemist for 6 months at Activotec Southampton. In May 2005 Adam joined the Bradley Group at the University of Edinburgh as a PhD student to work on dynamic combinatorial library synthesis on microarrays supported by Tripos Inc. Outside the laboratory Adam spends his time tasting whisky. Adam watches mostly independent films. He is happiest when he is on his bike or at the top of a big hill.

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Albert Liberski
Albert Liberski

My research project is focused on interfacing ink-jet printing technologies with combinatorial methods. The research includes high throughput micro-scale polymer library syntheses and their use in the development of a variety of screening techniques. Ink-jet technology will make possible the fabrication of polymer micro-arrays using novel concepts such as gradient and multi-spotting formulations. These micro-arrays will be used as new platforms to carry out screenings ranging from biological to physical studies.

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Aleksandra Debska
Aleksandra Liberska

Aleksandra (Ola) was born in Poznan in Poland in 1979. She has graduated from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan in 2003, Faculty of Chemistry and after these studies she has completed postgraduate studies at the University of Economics in Poznan in 2003. Ola has a certificate an Internal Auditor of Integrated Management Systems according to ISO 9001:2001 and ISO 14001:1996.
In September 2005 Ola joined the Bradley Group at University of Edinburgh as a PhD student to work on solid-phase synthesis of amphiphilic dendrimers for DNA delivery.
Outside the lab Ola spends her time reading, walking and shopping. She loves polish food.

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Alessandra Chighine
Alessandra Chighine

Alessandra was born in Alghero, a nice city in the north of Sardinia. She studied Chemistry at "Universita degli Studi di Sassari" where she graduated in July 2003. She started her PhD in the CCE (Combinatorial Centre of Excellence) in January 2004 under the supervision of Prof. Mark Bradley and Dr. Bruno Linclau (University of Southampton). Her research is focused on developing new solid supported reagents for alkylation reaction using microwave technology. Outside the lab she enjoy reading, travelling ...and like all the Italians, she loves eating pasta.

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Antonio Fara
Antonio Fara

 

 

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Delphine Pouchain
Delphine Pouchain

Delphine was born in Amiens , North of France, in 1981. She graduated with a 5-year-university degree DEA in Chemistry of Biomolecules, at the University of Montpellier II . During that time, she also did two 6 month placements at the Amino acids, Peptides and Proteins Laboratory (LAPP) in the University of Montpellier II . She joined the Bradley group in October 2004 and is currently working on Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNAs) and microarrays. In her spare time, she enjoys going to the cinema, reading, swimming, cooking.

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Frank Bowler

Frank was born in Stoke-On-Trent , but grew up in Argyll in Scotland . He graduated from the University of St Andrews in 2006 with an MChem in Medicinal Chemistry, spending the penultimate year of his degree on an industrial placement with Pfizer at Sandwich in Kent . In his final year degree project, he greatly enjoyed working for Prof Paul Kamer on DNA based transition metal catalyst assemblies. After graduation Frank spent a short spell working for Prof Peter Sadler on photoactivated platinum anticancer complexes, before transferring to the Bradley group to begin his PhD in June 2007. His research is focused on the use of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) for DNA sequencing and SNP analysis. In his free time, Frank enjoys cross-country running (occasionally!), and travelling and going out to the cinema and theatre with his wife, Jennifer.

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Geraldine Escher

Geraldine was born in Belfort, north-east of France, in 1984. After a HND in Organic Chemistry, at the University of Besancon (France), she graduated with a five-year University degree "Master Recherche" in Biomolecular Chemistry, at the University of Montpellier II. During her studies, she had the opportunity to do 5 internships (4 in France:COBS, LAPP, CRBA and UMIB and 1 in Canada : College de l'Outaouais).She joined the Bradley group in September 2007 and she is currently working on the synthesis of peptoid carrier for cellular delivery of biologically active molecules.

Out of work Geraldine enjoys travelling (11 countries), reading, walking, skiing (when their is some snow) and of course spending a lot of time with her friends (restaurant, cinema, pub,...)

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Gianluca Sechi
Gianluca Sechi

Gianluca was born in Alghero, a city in the north of Sardinia (Italy). He graduated in "Universita degli Studi di Sassari" , in July 2003. In January 2004, he joined Prof. M. Bradley's group. His research project is focused on develop new solid supported oxidants. Out of lab he enjoys any activity that includes good wine & good food with his friends.

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Graham Henderson
Graham Henderson

Graham graduated from the University of Glasgow with an MSci in Chemistry in June 2005, where he worked on anti-cancer drug research with Prof. David Robins and the Beatson Oncology Laboratories. He joined the Bradley Group in August 2006 to work on peptide based microarrays for cell binding and cell marker identification. In his spare time Graham enjoys socialising, the cinema and going to the gym.

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Jose Pedrosa
Jose Pedrosa

Jose was born in Andujar( Jaen) (South of Spain). He has a degree in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Granada ( Spain). He was working at physical-chemical parameters of fragrances and essential oils, as well as the formulations of soaps and chromatography analysis of fatty acid of soaps , during six months at DGF-Universal Fragrances Company. During that time he was studying a Msc in water and environmental management.-. Then he came to UK (2000) and earned a MSc in Chemical Research and Process in Liverpool University, before working during 6 months in the Stanley group in the project (asymmetric epoxidation of alpha-betha unsaturated derivatives using polyleucine). Later he joined to the Bradley group working in the PhD of highthrough put screening of inkjet materials He enjoys the music, reading, food and a good wine.

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Juan Manuel Cardenas-Maestre

Juan Manuel Cardenas-Maestre

Juanma was born and grew up in Cartaya, a small village in Huelva . Huelva belongs to Andalucia-the best part of Spain he says-.
He graduated in Pharmacy in 2006 from Granada University . Afterwards he was working in Dr. Gomez Vidal’s group in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at Granada University and from January 2007 he is working under the supervision of Dr. Rosario Sanchez-Martin in the project named “Microspheres for cellular sorting, manipulation, multiplexing and in situ sensing”.
He is really happy here because he thinks that he is working in one of the best research groups in UK and this will be very good experience for him.
He loves adventure sports like snowboarding, mountain biking and surfing as well as going to spectacular live concerts of good groups such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2, Rolling Stones...

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Lois Alexander
Lois Alexander

Lois graduated from Southampton University with a MChem in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry in 2005. She moved to join Prof. Mark Bradley’s group in Edinburgh in the same year working on investigating the applications and cellular uptake pathway of functionalized microspheres.

Out of work Lois enjoys socialising with friends, reading and travelling.

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Luciano Galveia
Luciano Galveia

Luciano was born in Almada , Portugal . He got is degree in Chemistry at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon in 2000. Afterwards he obtained a MChem in Technological Organic Chemistry at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the New University of Lisbon in 2003. During this time, he got the opportunity to demonstrate at the Air Force Academy, as well as at the University of Lisbon. He joined the Bradley group in February of 2004 and is currently working on High Throughput screening of metal catalysed reactions under microwave irradiation and development of a solid-phase linker for palladium catalysed reactions. He likes playing football, squash, listening to music, going to gigs, and pigeon racing.

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Maria Lopalco
Maria Lopalco

Maria was born in Brindisi, Italy. She graduated in July 2003 in Pharmaceutical Chemistry & Technology at the Universita degli Studi di Siena. The subject of her thesis was "Synthetic study for the preparation of parallel arrays of imidazolidinones"; this work was carried out under the supervision of Prof. M. Taddei. After six-month training in a pharmacy, she joined the Bradley group in February 2004. She is currently working on the development of a new High Throughput Sequencing method on microarray chips. In her free time, Maria enjoys discovering new beautiful places in Scotland, going to the cinema, fencing and yoga.

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Mariona Valles Miret
Mariona Valles Miret

Mariona was born in a little village near Barcelona, surrounded by wine and human towers, in Catalunya. She studied Chemistry in Institute of Chemistry of Sarria where she graduated in June 2006. One year later, she got a Master in Biomedical Research in Pompeu Fabra University and joined Mark Bradley’s group where she’s doing her PhD in the field of microarrays.

She loves cooking and eating, reading and almost all sports. She likes travelling around, being in contact with nature and she enjoys being surrounded by good friends.

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Mariona Valles Miret
M. Rahimi Yusop

Rahimi was born and grew up in small village surrounded by paddy fields near Parit Buntar Perak, Malaysia. He graduated in Oleochemistry from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)–National University of Malaysia in 2003. He was awarded a scholarship from Malaysian Palm Oil Board to further his study at Advanced Oleochemical Technology Division (AOTD) and obtained his M.Sc degree (palm-based surfactants) in 2005 from the same University. He was appointed as a lecturer in Oleochemistry Department at Faculty of Science and Technology, UKM, Bangi. Thus, he was awarded a scholarship from Malaysia government to pursue his further study as required by the university. Due to the very strong support from Professor Mark Bradley, he was allocated a training position funded by School of Chemistry University of Edinburgh to undertake PhD research in Bradley group started from February 2008. His research area is in chemical biology and focused on Palladium chemistry and its application both in chemistry and biology, solid phase synthesis, flow and click chemistry. Here, he lives happily in lovely-flat nearby the City of Edinburgh with his beloved wife (Norly) and 2 years old son (Irfan Hadif).

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Phillip Milnes
Phillip Milnes

Phill was born in Torquay, Southwest England . He acquired a MChem (Hons) from Bath University in June 2003. As part of his undergraduate degree, he spent one year working in the Bone Metabolism research department at Novartis AG, Basel , Switzerland . In October 2003, he joined Prof. M. Bradleys group and is currently undertaking work pertaining to Rapid optimisation, screening and identification of new Chiral separation media, in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline. In his spare time he enjoys travelling, socialising, as well as playing and watching sport such as Football and Cricket.

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Salvatore Pernagallo
Salvatore Pernagallo

Salvatore Pernagallo was born in Catania (Italy) and lived happily in Scordia, a citrus village located in Catania's lowlands where his beloved parents still live. After High School he moved to Catania to study Molecular Biology at the Homonym University. During his degree he acquired his military service for the "60° Battaglione Fanteria Col di Lana" in Trapani (Italy). He got his degree in December 2004, the subject of his thesis being "Genomics and Evolution of the Apoptotic Machinery" under the supervision of Prof. Michele Purrello and Prof. Alfredo Ferro in the Biomedical Science Department.
After graduation, he won a position as a medical genetics trainee in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Catania, where he successfully has completed the first year of four. In May 2006 Salvatore took a break from his studies in Catania to join the Bradley Group at Edinburgh University as a PhD student. He is currently working on high-throughput screening of polymer supports for suspension cells and analysis of gene expression profiles.
Outside the lab he is an international wrestling referee (Greco-Roman and Free Stile) so has the opportunity to travel around Europe. In his spare time he loves cooking Italian food…perhaps because he loves eating it as well!!

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Songsak Planonth
Songsak Planonth

Song was born in 1980 in Chonburi, Thailand. In 2003, he graduated in Chemistry from Mahidol University, Bangkok. In the final year of the degree, he worked under the supervision of Prof. Somsak Ruchirawat. While studying in the first year of his Master of Chemistry degree, he was awarded a scholarship from The Royal Thai Government to study abroad. He joined the Bradley group in May, 2005. His research projects focus on the synthesis of a functionalized fluorescent sensor and the synthesis of a library of lanthanide-binding proteins. In his free time, he enjoys playing basketball, pool and sometimes football. Besides sports, he is also interested in photography and internet website design.

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© 2005-2008, Bradley Research Group, updated by I. Trkulja and G. J. Henderson