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I am a Wellcome Trust Career Re-entry Fellow with a medicinal inorganic chemistry research group in the Department of Chemistry. We design and synthesise novel metal (platinum, gold, lanthanide) compounds and develop selective targeting and delivery strategies (light, ultrasound, liposomal encapsulation, peptide targeting etc.) for applications in the imaging and treatment of cancer.  

Existing collaborations relevant to drug delivery

Department of Chemistry (Oxford): Prof. Stephen Faulkner (imaging), Prof. Andy Baldwin (diffusion NMR spectroscopy), Prof. Stuart Conway (HDAC inhibitors). 

Institute of Biomedical Engineering (Oxford) – with Profs. Eleanor Stride, Constantin Coussios and Robert Carlisle (ultrasound-mediated drug delivery).

Structural Genomics Consortium (Oxford): Prof. Alex Bullock (DIPG).

Ninewells Hospital, Dundee: Dr. Vicky McGuire (photobiology).

Publications relevant to drug delivery

N. J. Farrer, D. Griffith, "Exploiting azide–alkyne click chemistry in the synthesis, tracking and targeting of platinum anti-cancer complexes", Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol., in press, 2019. 

K. Yao,  A. Bertran, A. Howarth, J. M. Goicoechea, S. M. Hare, N. H. Rees, M. Foroozandeh, A. Bowen, N. J. Farrer *, "A visible-light photoactivatable di-nuclear PtIV triazolato azido complex", Chem. Commun.,  2019, 55, 11287 – 11290.

E. Shaili, L. Salassa, J. Woods, G. Clarkson, P. J. Sadler, N. J. Farrer*, "Platinum(IV) dihydroxido diazido N-(heterocyclic)imine complexes are potently photocytotoxic when irradiated with visible light", Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 8610 – 8617. 

K. Yao, A. Bertran, J. Morgan, S. M. Hare, N. H. Rees, A. M. Kenwright, K. Edkins, A. M. Bowen, N. J. Farrer* "A novel Pt(IV) mono azido mono triazolato complex evolves azidyl radicals following irradiation with visible light" Dalton Trans., 2019, 48, 6416-6420. 

G. Karunanithy, R. J. Wheeler, L. R. Tear, N. J. Farrer, S. Faulkner, An in-cell diffusion method to characterize the size, abundance and permeability of cells, J. Magn. Reson. 2019, 302, 1-13.