Group Members
Dr Marco Giardiello
Marco graduated from The University of Leicester in 2002 and after a period of working at the University of Siena, Italy, he returned to Leicester to complete a PhD in biological inorganic chemistry (2007) developing biologically responsive MRI contrast agents and luminescence lanthanide probes for molecular imaging. He completed two postdoctoral positions: University of Liège, Belgium, studying polymer bound/biologically responsive lanthanide complexes; Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (CEA) Grenoble, France, developing lanthanide quantum dot probes. In 2010 he joined The University of Liverpool working with Prof. Steve Rannard and Prof. Andrew Owen on Non-Attrition HAART nanoparticle therapies for HIV/AIDS Drug Delivery. During this time, Marco developed many of the technologies that underpinned the formation of the UoL owned spin-out company Tandem Nano Ltd, for which he is a co-founder. This included the cGMP clinical manufacture of candidate therapies for the world’s first human trial studies of orally-dosed HIV nanomedicines. In 2019 Marco took on a Lectureship position in the Department of Material Science and Engineering at The University of Sheffield before returning to Liverpool in July 2020 having been awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship.
Postdoctoral Research Associates
Dr Elena Ureña Horno
Elena received her bachelor of science degree in Chemistry from the University of Jaén, Spain in 2009. After earning her Master’s degree in 2010 at the Pharmaceutical Industry Center CESIF, in Madrid, she worked at "Alcala Farma " company. She then moved to the UK for a placement in Diamond Light Source, Oxford, where she worked for the multimode infrared microscopy and imaging beamline B22. In 2019 she received her Ph.D. in Nanoscience from the University of Southampton working on inorganic colloidal nanoparticles and their energy applications under the supervision of Professor Antonios Kanaras and Professor Pavlos Lagoudakis. Her research was focused on the size and shape control, surface functionalization, and evaluation of the photoluminescence enhancing properties of Lanthanides Doped-Upconversion Nanoparticles. Elena joined the Giardiello Group as a postdoctoral researcher in 2020 to work with Inorganic/Organic Nanocomposite Particles.
Dr Dominic Gray
Dom graduated from the University of Warwick with a MChem with professional experience in 2014. In his final year project, he researched reversibly crosslinking thermoresponsive nanogels in the group of Prof. Rachel O’Reilly. Dom then completed his PhD in the group of Dr Seb Spain at the University of Sheffield. His project was part of the CDT for polymers, soft matter and colloids and CASE sponsored by BASF. This project was investigating controlled radical polymerization in surfactant-free aqueous conditions. Dom moved to the University of Liverpool and joined the McDonald group in May 2019 where he was researching in situ forming implants for drug delivery. In July 2022 Dom joined the Giardiello group as a PDRA to begin investigation towards Inorganic/Organic Nanocomposite Particle development.
PhD Students
Daniel Traynor
Daniel graduated from the University of Liverpool with a first class MChem degree in 2020. In 2019, he undertook an undergraduate research project within the Cooper Group at Liverpool, focusing on Porous Organic Cages. During the summer of 2019, Daniel completed an EPSRC funded vacation bursary with Dr Marco Giardiello investigating the effect of polymer morphology on the size and surfaces of gold nanoparticles. He then joined the Rannard group for his Master’s project, which involved the optimisation of hydrophobic methacrylate polymerisations for nanoparticle formation. He is now studying for his PhD in the Giardiello Group aiming to develop novel radiosensitisers for use in radiotherapy and Proton Beam Therapy, where he will work in both the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Molecular and Clinical Cancer Medicine.
Neve Thomson
Neve graduated in the summer of 2021 with a First Class MChem (Hons) degree from the University of Liverpool. During her undergraduate programme she spent a semester at the University of Georgia (USA), before returning to complete a research project in Prof Rosseinsky’s group focussing on ion exchange in a multiple-anion material. During the summer of 2020, she completed an internship working alongside academics facilitating the transfer between virtual learning environments. For her Master’s project, Neve synthesised chiral functionalised enamine N-oxides to create new heterocyclic scaffolds for drug discovery. Neve was honoured with three academic awards during her undergraduate degree, most notably the Ellard Woolcott Prize in Chemistry in her final year for best performance in the Honours School of Chemistry. Neve is now studying for her PhD in the Giardiello group developing novel nanoparticulate theranostic agents for use in targeted drug delivery, monitored by MRI.
Lewis Owens
Lewis graduated from the University of Liverpool with a first class MChem degree in 2022. In 2021, he completed a summer placement at Unilever regarding deposition studies of potential new environmentally friendly materials. He then fulfilled his MChem project in Prof Paul O’Neill’s group, working on the synthesis of novel anti-malarial therapeutics. He is now studying for his PhD in the Giardiello group with the goal of developing novel MPI tracers, with optimisation for theranostic applications.
Masters Students
Daniel Anning (2023-2024)
Alexandra Wright (2022-2023)
George Coombs (2022-2023)
Jessamy Riley (2021-2022)
Harriet Bott (2020-2021)
Third Year Project Students
Sophie Woodland (2023)
Isobel O'Brien (2023)
Alexandra Wright (2022)
Summer Project Students
Sophie Woodland (2023)
Keqing Liu (2022)
Isha Gorania (2021)