Research Interests
I am a physical chemist. My research is centred around magnetic resonance phenomena and spectroscopy – both experiment and theory. I have taught undergraduate chemistry students in Oxford since 2003.
Principal areas of interest
- 31P in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy
- Magnetic “compass� sense of birds
- Magnetic field effects on chemical reactions (“Spin Chemistry�)
- Applications of lasers in chemistry
Publications
- “Effects of disorder and motion in a radical pair magnetoreceptor�. J. R. Soc. Interface 2010
- “Derivatives of spin dynamics simulations�. Accepted for publication by J. Chem. Phys., 2009. [ArXiv]
- “Receive array magnetic resonance spectroscopy: Whitened Singular Valued Decomposition (WSVD) gives optimal Bayesian solution�. Accepted for publication by Mag. Resn. Med., 2009.
- “Radiofrequency polarization effects in low-field electron paramagnetic resonance�. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2009.
- “Radiofrequency polarization effects in zero-field electron paramagnetic resonance�. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2009. (Featured on journal cover.)
- “Magnetic Compass of Birds Is Based on a Molecule with Optimal Directional Sensitivityâ€?. BioPhys J., 96(8), 3451-3457, 2009. (“Featured Article”)
- “Magnetic field effects in chemical systemsâ€?. Pure. Appl. Chem., 2009. [Publisher’s site] [DOI link]
- “Chemical magnetoreception in birds: The radical pair mechanism�. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. (USA), 2009.
- “Chemical compass model of avian magnetoreception�. Nature, 2008.
- “Distance Measurements in the Borderline Region of Applicability of CW EPR and DEER: A Model Study on a Homologous Series of Spin-Labelled Peptides�. J. E. Banham, C. M. Baker, S. Ceola, I. J. Day, G. H. Grant, E. J. J. Groenen, C. T. Rodgers, G. Jeschke and C. R. Timmel. J Mag Res 191 (2008) 202-218.
- “Determination of radical re-encounter probability distributions from magnetic field effects on reaction yields�. J. Am. Chem. Soc, 2007.
- “The Spin Chemistry of Bird Navigation�. In proceedings of the ISMS2005 conference, Yokohama, Japan.
- “Low-field optically detected EPR spectroscopy of transient photoinduced radical pairs� J. Phys. Chem. A, 109, 5035–41, 2005.
- “The avian geomagnetic sense: theoretical studies on a proposed origin through the Radical Pair Mechanism� In proceedings of the Royal Institute of Navigation conference 2005, Reading, UK.
- “Radio Frequency Magnetic Field Effects on a Radical Recombination Reaction: A Diagnostic Test for the Radical Pair Mechanism� J. Am. Chem. Soc., 126(26), 8102, 2004.
Presentations and posters
Oct 2009 | Spoke at ESMRMB 2009, Turkey: “Spectroscopy with receive arrays: how to combine the signals�. |
Sep 2009 | Poster at the Oxford Imaging Festival. |
Aug 2009 | Flash oral presentation and poster at IUPAC 2009 congress, where I received the IUPAC Prize for Young Chemists 2008. |
Apr 2009 | E-poster at “ISMRM 2009�, USA: “Magnetic resonance spectroscopy with receive arrays: How to combine the signals�. |
Mar 2009 | Invited public lecture for National Science Week at Kingston Grammar School, UK. |
Mar 2009 | Invited speaker giving a departmental seminar at the University of Sussex, UK. |
Jan 2009 | Invited speaker at the first workshop on Quantum Technology in Biological Systems, Singapore. |
Sep 2008 | Poster at the Oxford Imaging Festival. |
Dec 2007 | I presented a poster “The road to state-selected ultracold chemistry of CH3Fâ€? at the annual meeting of the RSC’s Spectroscopy and Dynamics Group (SDG2007), Norwich, UK. |
Oct 2007 | Invited lecture at the Bracknell Natural History Society (2 x 45min with break for questions). |
Mar 2007 | I gave one of three JEOL prize lectures at the ESR2007 conference. |
Dec 2006 | I was invited to speak about my work in a workshop at the Physics Department of the University of Southern Denmark in Odense. |
Dec 2006 | I won joint first prize for a presentation of my work at the Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences division graduate prize symposium competition. |
Nov 2005 | I spoke at a “Japan-UK Student Mini-Symposium on Magneto-Science� in Hiroshima University. I also gave a talk to the group of Prof Hisao Murai in Shizuoka University. |
Nov 2005 | I presented a poster “The Spin Chemistry of Bird Navigation� at the International Symposium on Magnetoscience 2005, Japan. |
Sep 2005 | I spoke in full session at the Spin Chemistry Meeting 2005 here in Oxford. I was one of only two graduate students to speak at the conference. |
Apr 2005 | I spoke at the Royal Institute of Navigation conference in Reading about “The Radical Pair Mechanism in avian magnetoreception�. This was a fifteen minute talk in full session, followed by questions. Two of the delegates described this talk as “very illuminating� and a “very clear explanation of the free radical mechanism� in e-mails sent to me later. |
I have spoken about my work to sixth form students at my former school. I speak annually at my research group seminars. |