CURRENT GROUP MEMBERS

Post Docs

MATT NODWELL

Matt is a BC native from Penticton. Before joining the Britton group, he did his Ph.D. with Dr. Raymond Andersen at UBC, then worked as a Humboldt postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Stephan Sieber at the Technical University of Munich. He is happy to be back home, where he can pursue outdoor activities such as mountain biking, skiing, and camping.

NARASIMHA THOTA

Narasimha ("Simha") was born and raised in Andhra Pradesh, India where he received his M.Sc in Chemistry from the IIT-Bombay in 2011. Later he worked as a project assistant under the supervision of Prof. Suvarn S. Kulkarni in IIT-Bombay, working on the synthesis of C-glycosides. In 2013, he moved to the University of Alberta where he completed his Ph.D under the supervision of Prof. Todd L. Lowary, working on the total synthesis of the Campylobacter glycan fragments. He is happy to escape the cold weather in Alberta to join the Britton group at SFU in November, 2019. His research involves the synthesis of nucleoside analogues. Outside of the lab, Simha enjoys playing badminton, squash and cricket.

MATTHEW ANKETELL

Matthew grew up in the south east of England. He studied for his undergrad at the University of Cambridge, doing his masters project in the lab of Professor Ian Paterson, working on the total synthesis of patellazole B. He continued to do his PhD in the Paterson lab, completing the first total synthesis of the actinoallolide family of antiparasitic polyketide natural products. He has a wide range of hobbies including reading literature, hiking, birdwatching, cooking and programming. 

ANTHONY Mc DONAGH

Anthony was born and raised in Galway, a small city on the west coast of Ireland. Here, he obtained his B.Sc. in Chemistry from NUI Galway in 2011 and continued for a further 4 years to receive a PhD, under the supervision of Paul V. Murphy, in carbohydrate and synthetic organic chemistry. After completing a Postdoc in heterocyclic chemistry and a second in nuclear medicine, he now works for the Britton group. Outside the lab, Anthony enjoys playing mandolin, traveling, reading, drinking Guinness and hiking.

EMMA DAVISON

Emma is a born and bred Kiwi, hailing from the far off land of New Zealand. She completed her undergraduate and PhD studies with A. Prof. Jon Sperry at the University of Auckland, and spent 9 months of her PhD in the Ciufolini group at UBC. She then returned home and obtained a Rutherford postdoctoral fellowship to work with D. Prof. Margaret Brimble on a number of commercial medicinal chemistry, peptide and natural product projects. Emma returned to beautiful BC to join the Britton lab in June 2021. When she's not in the lab, Emma can be found snowboarding or hiking in the mountains, gardening, working out, or with her nose in a book at the beach.

Graduate Students

DIMITRIOS PANAGOPOULOS

Dimitri was born and raised in Athens, Greece, where he received his BSc in Chemistry in 2012 from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He then moved to Vancouver, where he pursued an MSc in Chemistry in the lab of Dr Marco Ciufolini, working on the development of a new iodonium ion metathesis reaction, as well as on the synthesis of novel ionisable lipids for the targeted delivery of siRNA. Following that, he started his PhD degree at SFU in the Britton lab in Fall 2016, where he is pursuing the formal synthesis of eribulin. You might see him some times walking around town with a camera on his hand (both film and digital).

GARRETT MUIR

Garrett was born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He attended university at Mount Allison University where he completed his B.Sc. (Hons) in chemistry under Dr. Khashayar Ghandi. He then started his masters degree at SFU in the fall of 2017 in the Britton lab, where he is studying the total synthesis of Phormidolide A. Apart from the lab, he enjoys cooking, reading, and visiting the Vancouver Aquarium along with snowboarding, hiking, and kayaking when he gets outside.

DARRYL WILSON

Darryl was born and raised in Abbotsford, BC. In 2017 Darryl received his B.Sc in chemistry from the University of the Fraser Valley. During his undergraduate studies he worked under the supervision of Drs. Noham Weinberg and Cory Beshara where he was able to explore both synthetic and computational chemistry. Following the completion of his undergraduate studies, he joined the Britton and Linington groups at SFU to combine data mining and synthetic chemistry for the development of novel natural product-like compounds. Outside of class his hobbies include: curling (yes the sport!), fountain pens, fantasy novels, and anything science fiction.

JOSIAH NEWTON

Josiah received his B.Sc. (Hons) in chemistry under the supervision of Dr. Chadron M. Friesen at Trinity Western University in 2017, where he explored the synthesis of hydrofluoroethers. Josiah joined the Britton Group at Simon Fraser University in the Fall of 2017, under the joint supervision of Chadron M. Friesen and Robert Britton. His work focuses on the synthesis of fluorinated small molecules. Outside of the lab, Josiah enjoys playing video games, cooking, and listening to music.

DANIEL DRIEDGER

Daniel was born and raised in Abbotsford, BC, where he completed his B.Sc. in chemistry at the University of the Fraser Valley. During his degree, he worked under the supervision of Dr. Chadron Friesen (TWU) on the development of a difluoroalkyl ether synthesis. He joined the Britton lab in the summer of 2019 and is excited to be pursuing a PhD focused on the development of new synthetic methodology. Apart from lab work, he enjoys playing sports (hockey, volleyball, squash, tennis), cycling, board games, guitar, and listening to worship music.

COHAN HUXLEY

Cohan completed his Bachelors of Biomolecular Sci. (Hons) at Griffith University in 2018 with Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services under Dr. Urs Wermuth and Dr. Mark Coster. After completing his degree Cohan worked with Griffith University in technical support and nature products research under Dr. Rohan Davis before starting with the Britton Lab in late 2019. Cohan enjoys listening to music and podcasts and playing guitar.

CALLUM LUCAS

Callum completed his undergraduate degree at the University of St Andrews, obtaining a Master's in Chemistry with an industrial placement. His on industrial placement year was spent at GSK in the protein degradation DPU synthesizing PROTACs. His honour's project was done under the supervision of Prof. Terry Smith synthesizing non-natural fatty acids to target trypanosomatids. He joined the Britton group in September 2019, working on the synthesis of thio nucleoside analogues. In his free time Callum enjoys reading, hiking, listening to music and exploring Vancouver.

JEREMY RYAN LEE HARDER

Jeremy was born and raised in Surrey, B.C. In 2018 Jeremy  received his B.Sc. with a double major in biology and chemistry at Trinity Western University. During his undergraduate studies he explored the synthesis of carbonaceous nanomaterials under the supervision of Dr. Shane Durbach. In the fall of 2018 Jeremy joined the Britton Group at Simon Fraser University under the joint supervision of Dr. Robert Britton and Dr. Chadron M. Friesen. His work focuses on the synthesis of perfluoroaryl alkoxide initiators for the synthesis of di-functional hexafluoropropylene oxide polymers. In his spare time Jeremy enjoys running, scuba diving, cooking, brewing beer and traveling.

TOMMI MUILU

Tommi was born and raised in the Capital Region of Helsinki, Finland. After finishing the International Baccalaureate (IB) program in Finland, Tommi moved to Scotland. There, he completed his undergraduate and masters in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry at the University of St Andrews. After graduating in 2021 from St Andrews, Tommi started his PhD degree at SFU, in the Britton group, where he is working on the total synthesis of albomycin. Outside the lab, Tommi enjoys hiking, traveling, playing tennis, and throwing a frisbee around.

BRYCE KIRK

Bryce was born and raised in Edmonton, AB, where he completed his B. Sc. in chemistry at Concordia University of Edmonton in 2021. He joined the Britton lab in September of 2021 in pursuit of a PhD, currently working on the total synthesis of Dragocin. In his free time Bryce enjoys listening to music, cooking, and baseball.