Principal Investigator
Matthew J. Fuchter, FRSC FEurASC
Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry
Sydney Bailey Fellow, St. Peter's College
Matt Fuchter is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford and the Sydney Bailey Fellow in Chemistry at St Peter’s College Oxford. He runs a multidisciplinary research group with a broad array of interests in functional molecules, materials and medicines. In fundamental research, his work has significantly contributed to the development of chiral materials for optoelectronic applications and photoswitchable molecules for diverse functional applications. In translational research, he is an inventor of two different drugs (Samuraciclib and APL-4098) undergoing clinical trials for cancer therapy and is a Founder, Non-Executive Director and Head of Chemistry for NK:IO Ltd, an immune-oncology spinout company. His ORCID ID is https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1767-7072.
Matt completed PhD research at Imperial College London under the supervision of Professor A. G. M. Barrett, FRS FMedSci in 2006, and postdoctoral studies at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia, where he worked with Professor A. B. Holmes, AC FRS FAA FInstP in 2007. He was then appointed as the RCUK Academic Fellow at the School of Pharmacy (University of London) for one year before taking up a Lectureship at Imperial College London. At Imperial College he was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2012, Reader in 2015 and Professor in 2018. In 2024 he moved to his current position at the University of Oxford.
Matt has been awarded several prizes in recognition of his work. These include the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Harrison-Meldola Memorial Prize (2014), the 2018 Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award for Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, a Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists in the United Kingdom (2020), conferred by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences, the RSC Corday-Morgan Prize (2021), the RSC Stephanie L. Kwolek Award (2022), and the RSC BMCS Malcolm Campbell Memorial Prize (2023). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (since 2015) and the European Academy of Sciences (since 2023).
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Davia Prischich
Dr. David Reger
I grew up in Bavaria, Southern Germany, and studied Chemistry at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, where I also completed my doctoral research in the group of Prof. Norbert Jux, focusing mainly on the synthesis and characterization of helical nanographenes.
In 2021, I joined the Fuchter group at Imperial College London as a postdoctoral researcher to work on chiral, semiconducting small molecules and polymers for magneto-optical applications. From 2022 – 2024, this work was supported by a prestigious Walter Benjamin Postdoctoral Programme. Furthermore, I am interested in chiral materials for other applications, such as circularly polarized light emission and detection, as well as spintronics.
In 2025, I moved with the group to the University of Oxford to continue my research. During my time in the group, I undertook research stays at MIT (2023) and Kyoto University (2025). Outside the lab, I enjoy skiing, hiking, cooking, watching American football and spending time with friends.
Dr. Hsin-Hung Kuo
Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) Postdoc Fellow
Hsin-Hung (aka Steve) is a postdoctoral researcher at University of Oxford with Prof. Matt Fuchter since June 2025, researching for novel chiral organic semiconductors considering advantageous chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect. Early in 2025, he obtained his PhD degree at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, under supervision of Prof. Chih-Jen Shih. During his doctoral studies, he also conducted a research placement at University of Cambridge with Prof. Hugo Bronstein in 2023. Prior to the oversea academic life, he finished his BSc. and MSc. degree in National Central University in 2016 and National Tsing Hua University in 2018, respectively.
His achievement is recognised and he has been awarded with two prestigious postdoctoral fellowships, including Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and Newton International (NI). In the end, he undertook the former and declined the latter. Beyond his research life, he enjoys cooking, traveling, sports, cat-seeing, techno music and raving.
Dr. Dominic Schatz
Dominic studied chemistry at the University of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt through a dual studies Bachelor's program with Evonik Industries. He earned his Master's degree in physical organic chemistry at the Justus Liebig University Giessen. There, he also completed his Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. Hermann A. Wegner, focusing on molecular photoswitches for electrochemical and thermal energy storage. Currently he is working on azoheteroarenes for photopharmacological applications. Outside of his research work, he likes cooking and traveling.
Dr. Jihyun Kim
Jihyun Kim is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Oxford, jointly affiliated with the Hoye Group (Prof. Robert Hoye) and the Fuchter Group (Prof. Matthew Fuchter). Her research focuses on 2D chiral perovskites and spin-selective optoelectronic devices, aiming to understand and control chirality-driven charge and spin processes in thin-film semiconductors. She obtained her PhD in Physics (2019–2024) from Ewha Womans University under the supervision of Prof. William Jo, where she developed interface-engineering strategies for efficient and stable halide-perovskite optoelectronics. She then continued as a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Jo’s lab (2024–2025), developing p–i–n wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells. Her current research at Oxford is supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea’s Postdoctoral Overseas Training Fellowship. She likes cooking, walking, swimming, badminton and bouldering.
DPhill (PhD) Students
Hamish Trowell
Hamish completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Cambridge (Trinity College), where he obtained an MA/MSci in Natural Sciences (Chemistry). His Master’s research project was carried out under the supervision of Prof. Hugo Bronstein. He undertook an MRes and PhD through the React CDT at Imperial College London, working jointly with Prof. Matthew Fuchter and Prof. Rebecca Greenaway. He is currently based at the University of Oxford, continuing his research while completing the writing of his PhD thesis. His work focuses on the synthesis and characterisation of azoheteroarene photoswitches, spanning organic synthesis, computational analysis, and the development of characterisation methods. Outside the lab, he enjoys running, going to the gym, and cooking.
Kai Zheng
St. Peter's College
I hold an undergraduate degree in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry from Newcastle University, followed by an MRes in Drug Discovery and Development for Next Generation Therapeutics (MRes DDD) from Imperial College London. I am currently undertaking a DPhil in the field of Photopharmacology, developing tunable warheads and photoswitchable drugs.
Qianyi Zhang
St. Peter's College
Qianyi completed his undergraduate studies in Southeast University, China. After that he joined Matt Fuchter's group for his MRes study in Imperial College London. He then continued to stay in the group as a DPhil student on the project of polar chiral semiconducting polymer materials with high optical dissymmetry
Julia Jakiela
Balliol's College
julia.jakiela@balliol.ox.ac.uk
I'm originally from Poland and graduated from the University of Edinburgh. I completed my Master’s thesis during an industrial placement at Roche in Basel, focusing on enantioselective synthesis and C–H activation strategies. I also undertook an internship at the University of Queensland in Australia, where I worked on reaction optimisation to selectively synthesise β-lactam analogues of a model anticancer drug. I’m also interested in small ring chemistry and phenyl ring bioisosteres. My research interests therefore centre on developing new synthetic methodologies to advance medicinal chemistry. I’m an interdisciplinarity enthusiast, so it wouldn’t be unusual for me to branch into discussions on bioinformatics, astrobiology, or neurosurgery. Outside the lab, I enjoy a range of sports, particularly swimming, cycling, jiu-jitsu and equitation. I love camping and hiking, especially on long-distance trails and in remote mountains. I travel extensively, enjoying local coffee, tea, and handmade pottery from around the world.
Aidan Lynch
Magdalene College
I am a first year DPhil student with the Fuchter group working in the photopharmacology space. Previously I completed a master’s at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand specializing in synthetic organic chemistry for pharmaceuticals.
My interests outside of research include volunteer work in Ukraine, competing in Smallbore rifle shooting, exploring abandoned places and failing to learn languages.
Gaia van den Bergh Ferrer
Brasenose College
gaia.vandenberghferrer@bnc.ox.ac.uk
I grew up in Barcelona, where I studied chemistry at the University of Barcelona. During my undergraduate degree, I also did a research stay at the University of Colorado Boulder to work on the synthesis of materials for perovskite solar cells. More recently, I completed my master's and for my dissertation I worked on photoswitches, a field I am very excited to continue exploring during my PhD as part of the IMAT CDT. Outside of the lab, I enjoy reading, going on walks, travelling, and spending time with my family and friends.
Sinead McCann
Imperial College London
Sinead obtained an MChem degree in Medicinal Chemistry from Queen’s University Belfast, where she carried out her master’s research on foldamer design under the supervision of Dr Peter Knipe. She completed an industrial placement year as a process chemist at Almac Sciences and worked at Pfizer following graduation. In 2023, she commenced her PhD at Imperial College London under the joint supervision of Dr Anna Barnard and Prof. Matthew Fuchter, where her research centres on the development of photoswitchable stapled peptides as inhibitors of protein–protein interactions.
Marta Di Girolamo
Imperial College London
I hold a BSc in Physics from the University of Milan and an MSc in Applied and Engineering Physics from the Technical University of Munich (TUM). I am currently working towards my PhD at Imperial College London, my project focusses on functional characterisation of chiral materials. Outside of work I enjoy swimming and freediving.
Kira Scobel
Imperial College London
Part II (Master) Students
Kangcheng Wang
St. Peter's College
I am currently a Part II student in the group from St Peter’s College, focusing on disequilibration of photoswitches by sensitization under confinement. My research interest lies in organic synthesis, photopharmacology and supramolecular chemistry. Outside the lab, I enjoy playing tennis, pistol shooting and playing guitar.
Emma Chiappinelli
St. Hugh's College
emma.chiappinelli@st-hughs.ox.ac.uk
Emma is a part II student in the Fuchter group. Her research interests include exploring the combination of chiral organic materials and photoswitches. Outside the lab she enjoys cooking and swimming.
Krishh Chaturvedi
St. Anne's College
krishh.chaturvedi@st-annes.ox.ac.uk
My name's Krishh and I'm a Part II student in the Fuchter group. My project focuses on synthesis and evaluation of photo-switchable analogues of drug candidates, such as Vactosertib which targets the TGF-beta signalling pathway in cells. This is essential for the immune response in cells, and when dysregulated can lead to amplification of disease and tumour expression, making it a desirable target for photoswitchable therapeutics. Outside the lab, I enjoy reading, debating, and hiking.