Andre Cobb, Professor of ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

Originally from East London (and therefore a West Ham fan), Andre studied Chemistry with a Year in Industry at King's College London. The sandwich year was spent at ICI where he literally watched paint dry for a year. His final year research project was conducted with Dr Kamyar Afarinkia on the synthesis of a novel beta-lactam via a rhodium catalysed carbene insertion. Andre then moved across London to UCL to work with Professor Charles Marson on the development of ligands for organozinc catalysed processes. He then undertook postdoctoral work at the University of Cambridge, first with Professor Florian Hollfelder in the Department of Biochemistry to design synthetic enzymes based on polyethylene imines (PEI), and then in the Chemistry Department to work with Professor Steven V. Ley CBE FRS. There, he kicked off the organocatalysis projects, as well as working on anti-amyloid systems in collaboration with Professor Sir Mark Pepys (UCL).

In 2005 he moved to his first academic position in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Reading, where he was awarded a Faculty award for best research output and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2012. Then in 2016, Andre returned to his alma mater at the newly reborn Department of Chemistry at King's as Organic Lead.

Andre is also an Associate Editor at the Royal Society of Chemistry's New Journal of Chemistry, and an Assistant Editor for Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry. He is also a member of the EPSRC College and the Director of the EPSRC Network on Foldamers - FoldNetUK.