Atul Sharma
Postdoc
Atul grew up in India and earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry from the University of Delhi. During his master’s program, he conducted a one-year research project on metal-mediated cascade reactions under the guidance of Prof. Manojit Pal at Dr. Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences. Pursuing his passion for research, he joined Professor Charles-André Fustin’s group at Université catholique de Louvain in 2016 to pursue his PhD. During his PhD, Atul worked on palladium-based slide-ring gels to investigate the interactions between the rings and the polymer threads. After completing his PhD, Atul moved to France to work as an ERC-funded PDRA under the guidance of Professor Costantino Creton at ESPCI Paris, where he investigated fracture energy dissipation in organic materials. In April 2023, Atul joined the Barendt group as a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow. He is currently developing a polymer-rotaxane molecular shuttle as a molecular probe for non-invasive detection of cancer at the cellular level. Apart from his professional interests, Atul has a keen interest in reading, strength training, cooking, and networking with new people.
Contact: a.k.sharma.1@bham.ac.uk
Denis Hartmann
Postdoc
Originally from Austria, Denis moved to the UK for his undergraduate in chemistry at St. Anne’s college, Oxford. During this time, he undertook a summer research project with Bettina Lotsch on 2D optical materials at the MPI and LMU and undertook his 4th year project in organic methodology under Jonathan Burton. Denis then continued in Oxford, at Wolfson College, where he undertook his DPhil as part of the Synthesis for Biology and Medicine CDT with Michael Booth on light-controllable oligonucleotides. Denis joined the Barendt group as a research fellow in April 2023 and is working on through-space donor-acceptor systems for new luminescent materials. Outside of the lab, Denis enjoys making music, rowing and board- and videogames.
Contact: d.hartmann@bham.ac.uk
Samuel Penty
PhD student
Originally from Colombia, Sam spent most of his childhood in Spain before travelling north to study Chemistry at the University of Oxford. During his final year Sam carried out research on azobenzenes as light-switchable ion transporters under the supervision of Professor Matthew Langton and was awarded the runner-up Inorganic Chemistry departmental thesis prize. Sam joined the Barendt group in September 2020 and is now developing chiral macrocycles with applications in chiral guest sensing and chiral emission. In his spare time, Sam enjoys playing guitar and piano, hiking, cooking, maintaining this website, and writing about himself in the third person.
Contact: SEP018@student.bham.ac.uk
Angus Yeung
PhD student
Angus studied at the University of Oxford and his masters project included the total synthesis and structural reassignment of suahilamine under the supervision of Professor Stephen G. Davies. Angus joined the Barendt group in 2020 and is currently working on synthesising highly florescent chiral macrocycles with potential applications in chiral emissive materials. Angus also enjoys reading, cooking and baking.
Contact: AXY903@student.bham.ac.uk
Jamie Hillis
PhD student
Jamie grew up in Glasgow, where he attended the University of Strathclyde, finishing his masters in 2020. During his time there he undertook a year-long research placement with Dr Robert Edkins, working on the synthesis of C4h phthalocyanines, before returning to work with Dr Edkins (alongside Dr David Nelson) for his final-year project looking at Ir-catalysed borylations. He joined the group in 2022, working on the synthesis of PDI to study their aggregation for use as sensors. In his free time he enjoys watching football, reading, and playing board games.
Contact: jsh271@student.bham.ac.uk
Tom Lawson
PhD student
Tom is originally from south London, he completed his masters degree in chemistry at the University of Sussex, with his masters research being on the solid-state synthesis of naphthalene diimides for applications in organic photovoltaics. Tom is currently working under the CDT of Topological Design, and is working on designing and fabricating organic field effect transistors (OFETs) based on new supramolecular organic semiconducting materials. Outside of chemistry, Tom enjoys playing guitar and bass, bouldering, and training with the university’s swimming team.
Contact: tel210@student.bham.ac.uk
Emily Cramp
MSci student
Emily is a fourth year MSci Chemistry student at the University of Birmingham, working within the TAB group to synthesize a novel perylene bisimide J-aggregated macrocycle. She recently undertook a summer internship within the group, working to synthesize a novel perylene bisimide triphenoxazole derivative. She is originally from Nottingham, and enjoys running, playing guitar, and being on the ChemSoc committee in her free time
Contact: SEP018@student.bham.ac.uk
Former group members
Lucy Walker
MSci student
Lucy is a fourth year MSci chemistry student at the University of Birmingham. Having recently finished a summer internship at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, in Germany, she now joins the Barendt group to study how rotaxanes can be used to sense chiral anions. She is also the president of the Chemistry Society at the university. Outside of her degree Lucy enjoys: playing netball and volleyball, doing art, and playing the guitar and piano. Lucy is now a PhD student with Professor Hugo Bronstein at the University of Cambridge.
Alastair Littlewood
MSci student
Alastair, originally from Sheffield, is going into his final year studying chemistry at the University of Birmingham. He is joining the Barendt and Jupp groups for his master’s project, where he will work to quantify a rare supramolecular complex known as a Frustrated Lewis pair. In his spare time Alastair often volunteers for both St John Ambulance and the Ffestiniog Railway. Alongside these, he also enjoys hiking, film photography, and good coffee. Alastair has stayed in Birmingham to do a PhD with Dr Andy Jupp.
Edward R. Champness
Summer student
Edward is about to enter the final year of a Chemistry MSci at the University of Bristol. He is primarily interested in supramolecular organic chemistry, and its application to optically and electronically interesting systems. During his time in the Barendt group, which is being funded by an RSC Undergraduate Research Bursary, he will be attempting to impede racemisation of PDIs using supramolecular approaches.
In his free time, he enjoys watching The (US) Office, quizzing, folk rock, being disappointed by the Toronto Maple Leafs, and collecting sports cards.
Micheal Asare
MSci Student
Hi my name is Micheal Asare and I live in London, but was born in Ireland. My hobbies include learning new languages, playing the drums and travelling. The research interests I have include inorganic chemistry that can be incorporated into biological systems as it shows how the sciences can be linked together.
Joseph Schofield
MSci Student
My name’s Joe, I’m from Leicester. I’ve found organic and supramolecular chemistry interesting throughout my time at UoB. Outside of academics I’m a Formula 1 fan and also enjoy the occasional hike.
Joe is now doing a PhD with Professor Ross Forgan at the University of Glasgow.
The TAB Lab 