Meet the Group
Stefan Borsley
Stefan was born in North Wales. He obtained his MChem from the University of Manchester and PhD from the University of St Andrews under the supervision of Dr Euan Kay, working on dynamic molecular control of nanoparticle building block assembly. Stefan moved to the University of Edinburgh as a postdoctoral research associate with Prof. Scott Cockroft, working on single molecule nanopore sensing and noncovalent interactions. He returned to the University of Manchester to undertake postdoctoral and then lecturer positions in the group of Prof. David Leigh FRS, working on autonomous molecular machines. In 2023, Stefan obtained a Royal Society University Research Fellowship to start his research group at Durham University. In his free time he enjoys travelling, photography and good company!
Willow Baxter
Willow comes from Suffolk. She obtained her MChem from the University of St Andrews completing a final year project within the Chemical Education Research Group under the supervision of Dr Neil Keddie. Willow joined the group as a PhD student in October 2024 to work on chemical fuels for transmembrane pumps. In her free time she enjoys hillwalking and always has a craft project on the go.
Zac Orr
Zac obtained his MChem from Herriot-Watt University with a final year project in organic reaction development in the group of Dr Ai-Lan Lee. Zac joined the group as a PhD student in October 2024 to work on harnessing transmembrane gradients as an energy source to drive other processes.
Martha Noakes
Martha completed a summer research internship focusing on NMR processing at AstraZeneca before joining the group for her final year MChem research project. Martha works on macrocycles for dissipative anion binding and transport. Aside from chemistry, she enjoys playing clarinet in her college orchestra and learning French. Martha will be returning to the group to start a PhD in October 2025, in which she will explore allostery and fuel-driven processes.
Jeanne Karagouch
Jeanne comes from Lyon in France, where she studied at the CPE Lyon Engineering School. During her free time, she enjoys drawing and travelling, which is the reason that made her take part in an exchange program at Durham University for the academic year of 2025–2026. Jeanne will join the group in October 2025 for her final year MChem research project, during which she will explore transmembrane active transport of anions.
Teresa Hamill-McGuigan
Teresa is from County Tyrone, in Ireland and in her 4th year at Durham. She loves playing the trumpet and is a member of the Durham University Brass Band and is a big fan of Gaelic Games. She will join the group in October 2025 for her MChem project, which will explore fuel-driven template-mediated autocatalysis.