{"id":2,"date":"2023-04-20T13:51:55","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T12:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/tommcallister\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2026-02-06T11:17:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:17:44","slug":"group","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/tommcallister\/group\/","title":{"rendered":"Group"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"
The McAllister group in January 2026<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

PhD Students<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Georgi M. Trifonov<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Georgi is originally from Bulgaria and completed an MSc in Drug Chemistry at Newcastle in 2022 before starting his PhD studies in the group. Georgi is developing mRNA peptide screening approaches for GalNAc transferases.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Ella C. Sames<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ella grew up in Birmingham and graduated from the University of Manchester with an MChem in 2023. She joined the McAllister lab in September 2023 as a PhD student looking at the in vitro ribosomal incorporation of glycosylated amino acids into peptides. Outside of the lab, Ella enjoys playing the viola in the university orchestra.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

PDRAs and other staff<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Felicity J. Frank<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Felicity grew up in Berwick Upon Tweed, Northumberland, and graduated from Newcastle University in 2018 with an Mchem degree in chemistry. She then completed her PhD at Newcastle University under the supervision of Dr Michael J. Hall and Dr Julian G. Knight, working on point-to-helical chirality control within BODIPY systems. Felicity continued her work with Dr Hall to complete a 1-year postdoctoral research assistant position investigating selective chemical modifications of complex natural products. In November 2023, Felicity joined the McAllister group as a postdoctoral research associate, involving the synthesis of glycosylated amino acid building blocks to develop well defined proteins. In her spare time, Felicity enjoys playing the piano and cooking.
ORCiD: 0000-0002-9259-1092<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Joanna Bonnici<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Joanna trained as a biomedical scientist in Malta. She completed an MSc in Drug Design and Biomedical Science with Distinction in 2013 (Edinburgh Napier) and her DPhil in Chemical Biology funded by CRUK\/EPSRC with Akane Kawamura at the University of Oxford, staying on as a PDRA in the same group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is currently the Scientific Officer for the Chemical Biology Labs in Newcastle University.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Yathea Abo-Abo<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yathea is a 4th year undergraduate student carrying out her final year MChem project in the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yathea is exploring the substrate scope for our Cu(OTf)2<\/sub>-catalysed glycosylation reaction.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Past Members<\/h2>\n\n\n\n