Dr. Jeremy Robertson

Biography

Jeremy Robertson is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford, where he also serves as a Fellow Tutor in Organic Chemistry at Brasenose College. His academic journey began at Oxford, where he developed an enduring interest in furan chemistry and natural products during his undergraduate studies under the mentorship of Laurence Harwood. He furthered his research with a doctorate supervised by Sir Jack Baldwin, focusing on homolytic ring-expansion reactions. Following his doctoral work, he spent several years at Columbia University in New York, collaborating with Gilbert Stork on various synthetic routes to the anticancer drug taxol. Upon returning to the UK in 1992, Jeremy initiated an independent research program aimed at developing new synthetic methodologies for biologically active natural products. He has been significantly involved in fostering collaboration between synthetic chemists and biomedical research groups, with an emphasis on cancer research. Notably, he co-founded the OxSynC initiative and has played a pivotal role in the Oxford Innovative Organic Synthesis Cancer Research program. His research interests encompass natural product synthesis, synthetic strategies, and the employment of enzymatic approaches to access complex chemical structures, which has led to numerous successful projects and innovations in his field.

Research Interests