People

Members of the Vilar Research Group

Academic Staff
Photo	Member
	Prof. Ramon Vilar Contact Ramon is Professor of Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry and Director of the Institute of Chemical Biology. He is the group leader; further information about him can be found in his personal webpage

Postdoctoral Research Associates
Photo	Member
	Dr Adinarayana Bellamkonda Contact Adinarayana joined the group in February 2021 as a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellow. His project is dealing with development of long-lived optical probes to image G-quadruplex DNA in live cells
	Dr Tim Kench Contact Tim joined the group as a PhD student in October 2017 and is currently a postdoctoral research associate. His project aims at developing molecules that target different DNA and RNA topologies. As part of his project, he is developing novel platforms for the high-throughput synthesis and screening of the new compounds.
	Dr Amrita Sakar Contact Amrita joined the group in April 2021 as a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellow. Her project focuses on targeting G4 DNA structures with redox-activatable metal complexes as potential anticancer agents.

Students
Photo	Member
	Phil Haynes Contact Phil joined the group in October 2016 as part of a joint UCL/ICL doctoral program in Advanced Characterisation of Materials. His project is aimed at studying complex assemblies of DNA using high-resolution AFM and a range of spectroscopic techniques. His project is co-supervised by Prof Hoogenboom (London Centre for Nanotechnology).
	Zainab Albader Contact Zainab joined the group in March 2019 as a PhD student. Her project aims at developing G-quadruplex ligands that could stabilize LTR-III in the Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV-I) leading to viral reduction.
	Jenna Robinson Contact Jenna joined the group in October 2019 as part of the MRes/PhD program from the Institute of Chemical Biology. Her project involves synthesising fluorescent probes to visualise G-quadruplexes in live cells and establishing correlations between their presence and epigenetic characteristics in cancer. She is co-supervised by Dr Di Antonio (Chemistry), Dr Kuimova (Chemistry) and Prof Brown (Medicine).
	Aatikah Majid Contact Aatikah joined the group in October 2019 as part of an MRes/PhD program from the Centre for Doctoral Training In Next Generation Synthesis and Reaction Technology. Her project aims to use high-throughput synthesis and testing to develop optical probes for G-quadruplex DNA. Her project is co-supervised by Dr Kuimova (Chemistry) and Dr Thompson (Medicine).
	Tigerlily Bradford Contact Tigerlily joined the group in October 2020 as part of the PhD program from the BBSRC. Her project is aimed at imaging of quadruplexes formed in the telomeric region of chromosomes using FLIM. Her project is co-supervised by Prof Vilar (Chemistry) and Dr Vannier (Institute of Clinical Sciences)
	Molly Bartlett Contact Molly joined the group in October 2020 as part of an MRes/PhD program from the Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Synthesis and Reaction Technology. Her project aims to use machine learning and high-throughput synthesis for the development of Platinum(IV) salphen pro-drugs for cancer cell targeted G-quadruplex binding. Her project is co-supervised by Prof Barahona (Mathematics).
	Thomas Maher Contact Thomas joined the group in October 2021 as part of the MRes/PhD program from the Institute of Chemical Biology. His project aims at developing novel proximity-labeling methods for mapping the protein interactome of G4 DNA using photochemical processes. His project is co-supervised by Dr Di Antonio (Chemistry) and Prof Ed Tate (Chemistry).
	Liberty Rockey Contact Liberty joined the group in October 2021 as part of an MRes/PhD program from the Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Synthesis and Reaction Technology. Her project aims at developing novel receptors and functionalised materials for the removal of PFAS from the environment. Her project is co-supervised by Prof Dominik Weiss (Earth Sceinces and Engneering) and Puraffinity (which also co-sponsors her project).
	Wilson Wu Contact Wilson joined the group in October 2021 as part of an MRes/PhD program from the Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Synthesis and Reaction Technology. His project aims at synthesising novel chemical receptors for anionic species (e.g. oxoanions) using microfludics platforms and with the aid of machine learning. His project is co-supervised by Dr Phil Miller (Chemistry) and Prof Sophia Yaliraki (Chemistry).
	Erin Lin Contact Erin joined the group in January 2022 to carry out her MRes project which has now continued into a PhD. Her research aims to use a novel immuno-PCR platform to study the aggregation of amyloid-beta peptides. She is co-supervised by Dr Francesco Aprile