Meet the group
Dr. Sergio Fernández
Marie Słodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellow
Sergio was born and raised in Oviedo (Asturias, Spain). He studied in the University of Oviedo, where he obtained his Bachelor Degree in Chemistry in 2016. During this time, he performed an intenrship in the Selective Organic Synthesis Group (SOS) under the supervision of Dr. Javier Santamaría. One year later, he joined the same group as Master student, working on novel gold-catalyzed processes employing unsaturated organosilylated molecules. He decided to study a PhD at the same University and research group, supervised by Prof. Ballesteros and Dr. Santamaría, defending his thesis in 2022. Outside of lab, he enjoys listening to and playing music (asturian bagpiper!), reading, playing videogames, traveling as much as possible… and sharing beers with friends!
Dr. Yi Chen Chan
Newton Postdoctoral Fellow
Chan was born and raised in Penang, Malaysia. She pursued her Bachelor’s degree in Pure Chemistry (Honors) at University Science of Malaysia, where she continued her Master’s degree under the supervision of Dr. Abdussalam Salhin Ali. In 2021, Chan completed her PhD at Academia Sinica (Taiwan) under a scholarship offered by the Taiwan International Graduate Programme. She worked under the guidance of Prof. Tiow-Gan Ong on low-valent carbon species, particularly focusing on Carbone chemistry. After graduation, she stayed in Taiwan for a year of postdoc, before leaving to join the Planas lab in December 2023 as a Newton International Fellows. Outside the lab she likes to travel, play badminton, and hanging out with friends.
Selwin Fernando
PhD Student
Selwin was born and raised in Ja-Ela, a small town in Western Sri Lanka. He completed his Integrated Masters degree (MChem) at the University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK), graduating in 2021. During this time, he spent his third year on an industrial placement at GlaxoSmithKline (Stevenage, UK) working on the synthesis of Proteolysis Targeting Chimeras (PROTACs). He returned to Norwich for his final year where he worked on heterobimetallic complexes under the guidance of Dr Luca Rocchigiani. He then joined Apex Molecular Ltd (Alderley Edge, UK) in November, 2021 as a Research Chemist working on custom synthesis projects before joining the Planas Research Lab for his PhD in September, 2022. Outside the lab he enjoys playing/watching cricket and exploring different cuisines from all around the world.
Ruogu Li
PhD student
Ruogu was born in Chengdu, a city in the southwestern part of China. He joined the 2+2 programme between Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University and University of Liverpool in 2017 and obtained his bachelor’s degree in 2021. Later, he moved to London and enrolled in MRes in Imperial College London. During this period, he studied catalysts based on Fe-N/C species for the development of Bayer-Villiger oxidations using molecular oxygen as oxidant under the supervision of Prof George Britovsek and Prof Anthony Kucernak. After he finished his master’s degree, he decided to study a PhD and joined the Planas lab as a Chinese Scholarship Council PhD fellow. Ruogu enjoys watching and playing football games outside the lab. He also enjoys traveling and hanging out with friends.
Former group members
- Anna Gkene (Queen Mary University of London)
- Jesus Damián Burgoa (Visiting PhD Student; Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Spain)
- None