Graduate Students

Carlos Razziel Azpilcueta Nicolas

Carlos was born in Pinotepa Nacional Oaxaca, a small city on the south Pacific side of Mexico. He joined the Lumb Group in 2018, after completing his B.Sc. at UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico). His research interests focus on the development of new synthetic methodologies, and he is currently spearheading the group’s new interest in photoredox catalysis.

Madison Carroll

Madison is from Quispamsis, New Brunswick. She obtained her B.Sc. at the University of New Brunswick (2015) where she worked in the areas of natural products isolation and synthesis of organocatalysts. Her M.Sc. was completed at Dalhousie University, focusing on carbohydrate synthesis and enzymology (2018). Madison joined the Lumb Group in 2018 where she works on the total synthesis of natural products. Outside of the lab, she enjoys music and hiking.

Derek Meng

Derek is from Ottawa, Ontario. He obtained his B.Sc. from the University of Ottawa where he worked on elucidating the mechanism of TEMPO inhibited hydrocarbon autoxidation and developing isoform specific lipoxygenase inhibitors under the supervision of Prof. Derek Pratt. He moved to Montreal in July 2019 to pursue a M.S.c in the Lumb group where he is currently working on oxidative radical cyclizations in natural produts. When not in the lab, Derek enjoys playing Water Polo and Magic the Gathering at his local game store.

Simon Edelmann

Simon is from Dawson Creek, British Columbia and he completed his B.Sc. (Hons.) at the University of British Columbia Okanagan. At UBCO he worked on the synthesis of fluorescent dyes and kainic acid analogues for the study of neuro-receptors under the guidance of Prof. Fred Menard. He moved to Montreal in July 2019 to pursue a Ph.D. in the Lumb group where he is currently working on developing methods to utilize phenols in organic synthesis. When he’s not working in the lab, Simon enjoys playing soccer, skiing, and road biking.

Xueqing Wang

Xueqing completed her B.Sc. and M.Sc. at The University of British Columbia where she worked on the oxidative cyclization of phenolic N-acyl sulfonamides. She then started out to do process chemistry at Gilead Sciences, meanwhile completed her MBA at The University of Alberta. Xueqing joined the Lumb Group in 2020. Her current work in the lab involves syntheses of melanin related molecules. When not in the lab, Xueqing likes everything about airplanes.

En Zhao

En is from Quebec City and completed his B.Sc. at Concordia University in 2016. After graduating he moved to Hamilton, ON for work, performing radiochemistry development at McMaster University. He has come back to Montreal and joined the Lumb Group to pursue a M.Sc. in 2020, where he is currently working on silicon fluoride-based PET radiotracers. Outside the lab, he enjoys hiking and table tennis.

Jackie Wu

Jackie is from Hanover, Ontario and he completed his B.Sc (Hons.) from Western University. At UWO, he conducted research on the synthesis of small molecules using strained heterocycles under the supervision of Dr. Brian. L. Pagenkopf. In January 2021, Jackie joined the Lumb and Légaré groups where he will be working with phosphorus-containing compounds.

Laura Jeliazkov

Laura is from just outside of Washington, D.C. She completed her bachelor’s degree at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and while there worked on the development of photoswitchable hydrazone-including polymer systems under the supervision of Dr. Ivan Aprahamian. Laura joined the Lumb Group in September of 2021, and is currently working on the synthesis of melanin-related molecules. When not in the lab, she enjoys birdwatching and playing the flute.

Darcy Burley

Darcy is from Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia. He graduated with his BSc in 2019 from Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU), where he worked on developing new imino ligands for palladium complexes under the supervision of Dr. Aibing Xia. Prior to joining the Lumb Lab in September 2021, he was employed at Dalhousie as a research technician in the labs of Dr. Sultan Darvesh (Dalhousie) and Dr. Ian Pottie (MSVU) in the design and synthesis of new small molecules for PET and SPECT imaging as a potential diagnostic tool in Neurodegenerative diseases. Currently, in the Lumb Group, he is working on the synthesis of heterocycles containing silicon for silicon fluoride-based PET radiotracers. Outside of the lab, he enjoys sports, watching Tom Brady, and the beach.

Xiaobo Zhao

Xiaobo was born in Shenyang, an important industrial city in the Northeastern part of China. He completed his B.Sc. at Nankai University, Tianjin, China. While at NKU, he conducted research on transition metal catalyzed carboxylation reactions under the supervision of Prof. Baiquan Wang. He joined the Lumb group in 2022, where he is currently working on the total synthesis of spirocyclic proaporphine alkaloids.

Yiming Zhang

Yiming is from Weifang, a small city in the Shandong Province of China. During his undergraduate studies at McGill University, he worked under the supervision of Dr. Lumb on the total synthesis of the Kaxiras tetramer, a proposed component of the biological pigment eumelanin. Being fascinated by the mystery of eumelanin structure, he continued on to join the Lumb Group as a M.Sc. student in 2022. His current aim is the synthesis of Kaxiras tetramers stable for spectroscopic characterization. Apart from organic chemistry, he is interested in programming, Linux, and Emacs.

Veronica Wu

Veronica is from Toronto, Ontario, and completed her B.Sc. (Hons.) at McMaster University in 2023. During her undergraduate degree, she worked in antibacterial polymer coatings with the Wylie and Hoare labs (McMaster University), and in electrochemistry with the Skene Group (Université de Montréal). She also held an internship in Medicinal Chemistry at adMare BioInnovations. She then joined the Lumb group in 2023 to pursue her M.Sc., where she is currently working on phenol chemistry. Outside of the lab she enjoys exploring cafés, climbing and biking.

Glen Loo

Glen is from the sunny island of Singapore, where he completed his B.Sc. at Nanyang Technological University. For his undergraduate Honours thesis, he wanted to get as far away from home as possible, so he joined the Lumb group for the Fall of 2022 to work on a project involving the dearomatization of biaryls via photocatalyzed spirocyclization. He enjoyed the experience so much that he decided to return to McGill in 2023 to pursue his Ph.D., where he continues to focus in the exploration of photocatalyzed spirocyclizations. When he’s not in the lab, Glen enjoys cooking, visiting museums, and exploring all that Montreal has to offer.

Sean Elliott

Sean is from Montréal, Quebec. He completed his B.Sc. (Hons.) at McGill University, and during his studies worked in the lab of Dr. James Gleason on the development of novel senolytics. He then joined the Lumb group in September 2023, and is currently working on biomimetic radical cyclizations in natural products. Outside of the lab, he enjoys painting, golf and tennis.

Mathéo La Torre

Mathéo is from Nantes, France. He completed his B.Sc. and an engineering degree in physics and chemistry at ESPCI in Paris. During the degree he held an internship at Janssen Pharmaceuticals (DPR department, Belgium), where he worked on palladium-catalyzed dehalogenation. For his final research project he studied gold(I)-catalyzed cyclization reactions in the Echavarren Group at ICIQ in Spain. He joined the Lumb Group in September of 2023, and is currently working on quinone reactivity. Outside of the lab, he enjoys swimming, biking and cooking.

Post-doctoral Fellows

Dr. Camilo Javier Viasus Perez

Camilo is from Florencia, Caquetá, Colombia, a city near the Amazon region of Colombia. He completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in inorganic/organic chemistry synthesis and crystallography at the National University of Colombia and then moved to Ottawa for his Ph.D. (2019) under Prof. Sandro Gambarotta’s supervision. Before joining the Lumb group in November of 2022, Camilo was the lab manager while performing research duties in the GAO group at the University of Toronto, working to discover new ways of recycling CO2 and CH4 into fuels using solar light. He co-founded https://niloscientific.com/ and loves to develop new instruments to make research more affordable and straightforward. Currently, Camilo is working on synthesizing and characterizing inorganic and coordinated compounds with non-innocent ligands. When not doing research, he likes to play basketball and chess.

Dr. Eric Falk

Eric is from St. Gallen, a small city in the Eastern part of Switzerland. He completed his B.Sc. and M.Sc. studies in chemistry at ETH Zurich and conducted his master’s thesis in total synthesis in the group of Prof. Erick M. Carreira. For his Ph.D., Eric stayed at ETH Zurich, joining the group of Prof. Bill Morandi in 2018 to work on the development of new iron-catalyzed amination reactions. Feeling the desire to do more challenging organic synthesis again, he joined the Lumb group as a postdoc in early 2023. Outside the lab, Eric likes to explore the many restaurants and bars Montreal has to offer.

Dr. Burhan Ahmed Hussein

Burhan was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. He completed his B.Sc. (2014) and M.Sc. (2017) at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), working under the supervision of Dr. Bryan Koivisto and focusing on the synthesis of novel BODIPY derivatives. After his master’s, Burhan joined the Science Discovery Zone - a science-based startup incubator at TMU - as a science facilitator, working with Dr. Marc Adler on the synthesis of hypervalent silane porphyrins. In 2018, Burhan moved to the UK for his Ph.D. studies at Durham University under the supervision of Dr. Paul McGonigal, focusing on the control of dynamic supramolecular systems. Burhan moved back to Canada after his Ph.D. studies and joined the Lumb group as a NSERC PDF (2023). Here he focuses on developing novel silane molecular scaffolds as a platform for cancer therapies. In his spare time, he likes to cook, go for hikes, and explore the creative arts. Burhan is also an internationally recognized street dancer who specialises in Popping.

Research Associates

Dr. Thomas Singleton

Dr. Singleton received an Honours B.Sc. from Trent University in 2009 and a Ph.D. from McGill University in Materials Chemistry in 2015, and subsequently held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Manchester developing molecular machine catalysts (2015 – 2017 Royal Society Newton International Fellow with Prof. Dave Leigh). He now works as a Research Associate at the Montreal Neurological Institute (2017 – present) developing novel radiotracers to expand the utility of PET scans. A co-inventor on two patents and co-author of 11 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Singleton’s areas of experience include radiochemistry, materials, photochemistry and optics, and organic synthesis.

Marina Kostikowa

Marina was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia. She received her M.Sc. in chemistry - with a specialization in radiochemistry - in 2002 from the Saint Petersburg State University. In 2009 she moved to Montreal and worked for five years at the Montreal Neurological Institute as research assistant, performing synthesis and quality control of carbon-11 and fluorine-18 labeled radiotracers used in positron emission tomography (PET). She joined the Lumb Group in 2022, where she is currently involved in a project focused on the development of novel theranostic radiopharmaceuticals for the imaging and treatment of cancers. Outside of the lab, she enjoys birdwatching, hiking and gardening.

Undergraduates

Béatrice Denis

Béatrice is from a small town near Quebec City. She looks forward to completing her B.Sc. in Chemistry at McGill in 2024. Joining the Lumb group as a NSERC awardee in the summer of 2023 is her first experience in academic research. Currently she works in the development of methods for the use of orthoquinones in synthesis. Outside of the lab, she enjoys swimming, hiking and eating ice cream.