Biography

Dr. Gerard McGlacken obtained his B.Sc. at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He remained in Galway for his Ph.D. studies where he focused on hydrazones as building blocks for asymmetric synthesis under the direction of Dr. Simon W. Breeden. He then moved to the University of York (UK) where his research interests diversified to organometallic transformations and molecules of biological importance with Prof. Ian J. S. Fairlamb. A year later, he took up a ‘Molecular Design and Synthesis Post-Doctoral Fellowship’ at Florida State University (US) working with Prof. Robert A. Holton on the total synthesis of the large polyether antibiotic lonomycin A.

He works closely with the Pharmaceutical Industry both in Ireland and the United States. He also collaborates with the large Pharma company Syngenta and has placed PhD students in Basel, Switzerland. He also collaborated with Pfizer as part of the Irish Research Council Industry Partnership Program which resulted in the funding of two PhD positions.

His current research is in the area of organic synthesis applied to biologically significant molecules. En route to these compounds, novel methodology involving organometallic and asymmetric synthesis is being employed.

Expertise

- Organic Synthesis
- Flow

Publications