People

Our group members

Current Members

Prof. Scott L Cockroft

Scott was born and raised in Calderdale, West Yorkshire. He joined the School of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh in 2007 as lecturer and was promoted to Professor in 2019 as Personal Chair of Supramolecular Chemistry. Prior to this he conducted postdoctoral work with Prof. M. Reza Ghadiri at The Scripps Research Institute, California (2006-2007) and his PhD with Prof. Christopher A. Hunter FRS at the University of Sheffield (2002-2006). He enjoys a good red wine and Shpongle. His eyes are often "funny" due to myasthenia gravis.

Scott Cockroft

Dr Krzysztof Bąk

Postdoc, 2022-

Krzysztof joined the Cockroft group in 2022 and is a working on transmembrane molecular machine synthesis/assembly and patch-clamp characterisation. Previously he undertook a Postdoc with Prof. Paul Beer at the University of Oxford.

Dr Krzysztof Bąk

Dr Ivan Smoliar

Postdoc, 2023; PhD Student, 2019–2024

Ivan Smoliar joined the Cockroft group in 2019 to work on a PhD project examining the fundamental principles governing interactions and chemical reactions. In his spare time he enjoys playing double bass.

Ivan Smoliar

Dr Daniel Edwards

Postdoc, 2024–, PhD Student 2020-2024

Dan joined the group as a postdoc in 2024 to develop super-resolution microscopy techniques for the analysis of transmembrane systems working in collaboration with Prof. Mathew Horrocks. Dan obtained an MChem from the University of Lincoln where he spent a year in industry designing protein PEGylation methods for the application in biopharmaceuticals. He completed his PhD working with Prof. Scott Cockroft and Dr Amanda Jarvis. His PhD investigated the discovery of pore-forming peptides and the synthetic modification of transmembrane proteins. Dan enjoys exploring the Scottish highlands and islands by foot and by bike and is a keen badminton player.

Daniel Edwards

Louis Gravillier

PhD Student, 2020–2024 writing up

Louis joined the Cockroft group in 2020. He works on a PhD project examining the molecular origin of macroscopic viscosity and friction. Outside of the lab, Louis enjoys riding and working on his bike, playing videogames and cooking.

​​​​​​​Louis Gravillier

Tim Spankie

PhD Student, 2021–

Tim secured an EASTBIO PhD studentship to join the group in 2021 to study the computational electrophysiology of transmembrane molecular machines, working in collaboration with Ulrich Zachariae (School of Life Sciences, Dundee). When not computing he enjoys some recurve Archery, embracing his Nottinghamshire roots, or extremely uncompetitive Table-tennis!

Tim Spankie

Dongning Sheng

PhD Student, 2022-

Dongning joined the Cockroft group from Beijing University of Chemical Technology, where he worked on catalysis projects both from a synthetic and computational perspective. He is currently working on new methods of OH-group bioconjugation. Dongning enjoys playing classic video games such as ‘Touhou Project’ and watching anime.

Dongning Sheng

Beth Raynor

PhD student, 2024-

Beth joined the group from the University of Lincoln, after spending a year in industry at SGS quay pharmaceuticals on placement. She is working on the examining electron delocalisation in molecular interactions. Beth enjoys playing a variety of sport, recently picking up squash as the new intermural captain!

Beth Raynor

Botond Gémesi

PhD student, 2024-

Botond joined the group to work on the design and synthesis of receptors for small molecules. He obtained his MChem in 2022 from the University of Edinburgh where he completed his final-year project on artificial metalloenzymes with Dr Amanda Jarvis. He started his PhD in 2024, following work at Almac and Biosynth on peptide synthesis. In his spare time, Botond enjoys hillwalking and playing video games.

Botond Gémesi

Graduated PhD Students (and destinations)

Dr Ivan Smoliar
Graduating 2025
Postdoc Cockroft group

Dr Daniel Edwards
Graduated 2024
Postdoc Cockroft group

Dr Andrew West
Graduated 2022
Postdoc with ‪Kurt Gothelf (University of Aarhus, Denmark)

Dr Alex Elmi
Graduated 2021
Research Scientist, Sygnature (Nottingham, UK)

Dr Rebecca Burns
Graduated 2020
Student Adviser (School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, UK)
Previously, Assistant Professor (Heriot Watt, UK)

Dr Nicole Meredith
Graduated 2019
Formulation Scientist at Lonza (Livingston, UK)

Dr Qingshu Zheng
Graduated 2019
Assistant Research Fellow (Group leader/Lecturer at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China)
Previously, postdoc (Fudan University, China)

Dr Dominic Pascoe
Graduated 2018
Postgrad Medicine (St. Andrews/Dundee, UK)

Dr Antoine Bader
Graduated 2018
ATDBio (Oxford, UK)

Dr Nicholas Dominelli Whiteley
Graduated 2017
Postgrad Medicine (St. Andrews/Dundee, UK)
Previously, postdoc with Marcey Waters (University of North Carolina, USA)

Dr Justinas Slikas
Graduated 2017
Senior Scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Science Solutions, Lithuania
Previously, Research scientist at Base4 Innovation (Cambridge, UK)
Previously, postdoc with James Murray (Imperial, UK)

Dr Kamila Muchowska
Graduated 2016
Associate at McKinsey, London
Formerly, Chargée de Recherche (group leader at CNRS University of Strasbourg, France)
Previously, postdoc with Joseph Moran (CNRS University of Strasbourg, France)

Dr Thomas Hubbard
Graduated 2015
Synthetic Chemist at Innospec

Dr Catherine Adam
Graduated 2015
Postdoc with Asier Unciti-Broceta (Edinburgh, UK)
Previously, postdoc with Jonathan Clayden (Manchester/Bristol, UK)

Dr Matthew Watson
Graduated 2015
Postdoc with Roman Tuma and Sheena Radford (Leeds, UK)

Dr James Brown
Graduated 2014

Dr Lixu Yang
Graduated 2012
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (Chongqing University, China)
Previously, postdoc with Neil Champness (Nottingham, UK)

Dr Ma Long
Graduated 2012 (co-supervised with Prof. Anita Jones)
Postdoc with Prof. David O'Hagan (St Andrews, UK)

Dr Ioulia Mati
Graduated 2012
Postdoc with Euan Kay (St Andrews, UK)
Previously, postdoc with Colin Campbell (Edinburgh, UK)

Former postdocs (and destinations)

Dr Dylan George
Postdoc, 2022-2024
Optics Engineer at Micrographia Bio (London, UK)

Dr Sam Oldknow
Postdoc, 2018–2019
Postdoc with Dr. Paul Lusby (Edinburgh, UK)

Dr Marius Haugland
Postdoc, 2017–2018
Postdoc with Prof. Ed Anderson (Oxford, UK)

Dr Stefan Borsley
Postdoc, 2016–2018
Lecturer in Organic Chemistry, University of Manchester
Postdoc with Prof. Dave Leigh FRS (Manchester, UK)

Dr Jamie Withers
Postdoc, 2018
Postdoc with Prof. Glen Burley (University of Strathclyde, Glasdow, UK)

Dr Dominic Pascoe
Postdoc, 2018
Postgrad Medicine (St. Andrews/Dundee, UK)

Dr Antoine Bader
Postdoc, 2017–2018
ATDBio (Oxford, UK)

Dr James Cooper
Postdoc, 2015–2017
Lecturer in Organic Chemistry (University of Reading, UK)
Postdoc with Prof. Sir J. Fraser Stoddart (Northwestern University, USA)

Dr Matthew Watson
Postdoc, 2015–2017
Postdoc with Roman Tuma and Sheena Radford (University of Leeds, UK)

Dr Michael Ochsenkuehn
Postdoc, 2010–2011
Researcher at (New York University, UAE)
Postdoc (KAUST, Saudia Arabia)

Dr John Brazier
Postdoc, 2009–2010
Postdoc with King Kuok (Mimi) Hii, (Imperial College London, UK)

Project students and research visitors

Sarah MacdonaldMChem Student, 2024-2025 Xuefei ChenMSc Student, 2024 
Anna-Luisa WarnkeVisiting Postdoc from Tromsø, 2023 Wenkai ZhangBSc MChem Student, 2023-2024 Elizabeth HillBSc MChem Student, 2023-2024 
Natasza Rybacka4P MChem Student, 2023 Cameron Anderson4P MChem Student, 2023 Karen Sato4P MChem Student, 2023 
Nojus Osinskas4P MChem Student, 2022 Antonio FiorentinoVisiting Student from Bologna, 2023 Yinxuan ZhangMSc Student, 2023 
Ryan Ferguson4P MChem Student, 2022 Elena Gil Gutiérrez4P MChem Student, 2022 Falk Meier4P MChem Student, 2022 
Nicholas Runcie4P MChem Student, 2022 Justin KoBSc Student, 2022 Gleb ButyaginSummer Student, 2022 
Nojus OsinskasSummer Student, 2022 Jianning LuMSc Student, 2022 Chenfeng ZhangMSc Student, 2022 
Katie Brown4P MChem Student, 2022 Allison Findlay4P MChem Student, 2022 Adrian Popescu4P MChem Student, 2022 
Jonathon Walker4P MChem Student, 2022 Eve BrysonBSc Studemt, 2021-2022 Jessica FlowersMChem Student, 2021-2022 
Yuqing ZhangMSc Student, 2021 Sopika Balaskanthan4P MChem Student, 2021 Rachel Feeney4P MChem Student, 2021 
Botond Gemesi4P MChem Student, 2021 Cameron Webster4P MChem Student, 2021 Xiao HuBsc Student, 2020-2021 
Juliet BarclayMChem Student, 2020-2021 Felix RoughtonBSc Student, 2019–2020 Andrew Cummins4P MChem Student, 2019 
Peter Ning4P MChem Student, 2019 Reinis RudzitisSummer Student, 2019 Vesela ZarkinaAfton Chemical Scholarship, 2019 
Kris Chambers4P MChem Student, 2019 Laura Fineron4P MChem Student, 2019 Louise BidenBSc Student, 2018–2019 
Artem GoldortBSc Student, 2018–2019 Hubert LiuMChem Student, 2018–2019 Sarah Aitken4P MChem Student, 2018 
Adelina Ivanova4P MChem Student, 2018 Mia Kapun4P MChem Student, 2018 Lydia BowmanMChem Student, 2017–2018 
Dominic Cairns-GibsonMChem Student, 2017–2018 Karina KrogstrupTechnical Intern, 2017–2018 Katie GrantDeans Summer Scholarship, 2017 
Alvaro Gallego4P MChem Student, 2017 Lucy McQuade4P MChem Student, 2017 Mohanish BoranaMSc Student, 2017 
Ewan BainMChem Student, 2016–2017 Militsa YanevaMChem Student, 2016–2017 Tay McDonald4P MChem Student, 2016 
Simon Thornewill von Essen4P MChem Student, 2016 Anja NeumannMSc Student, 2016 Simon SponholtzTechnical Intern, 2016 
Alethea Han Hui HeBSc Student, 2015–2016 Christopher EvansMChem Student, 2015–2016 Amy MarshallBSc Student, 2014–2015 
Sarah McArthurMChem Student, 2014–2015 Fredrik KarlssonMChem Student, 2014–2015 Jakob JessenTechnical Intern, 2014–2015 
Hannah PatersonMChem Student, 2013–2014 Ksenia AleksankinaMChem Student, 2013–2014 Daniel DoddBSc Student, 2014 
Ben MossBSc Student, 2013–2014 Ksenia AleksankinaMChem Student, 2013–2014 Dominic PascoeMChem Student, 2013–2014 
Shona CammackMChem Student, 2012–2013 Lucy AntrobusMChem Student, 2012–2013 Calum FergusonMChem Student, 2012–2013 
Graeme RogersMSc Student, 2012 Gemma GowrieMChem Student, 2011–2012 Jack HarrisMChem Student, 2011–2012 
Hayat P. H. SaifuddinMSc Student, 2011 Susie MetcalfeBSc Student, 2010–2011 Nicholas Dominelli WhiteleyMChem Student, 2010–2011 
Basile WickyVisiting Student, 2010–2011 Eugene Guobin ChoonVisiting Student, 2010 Urszula WolkowiczBSc Student, 2009–2010 
Catherine AdamMChem Student, 2009–2010 Sophie SpurrMChem Student, 2009–2010 Kirsten StrainMChem Student, 2008–2009 
Tereza VokataMChem Student, 2008–2009 Stefanie NoeVisiting Student, 2008–2009 Bobby OagBSc Student, 2007–2008 

 

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