Órla comes from Ireland and obtained a BA in Medicinal Chemistry from Trinity College Dublin in 2021, where she completed her final year project in the lab of Prof. Stephen Connon, investigating the organocatalytic DKR of azlactones. She then spent the summer carrying out research in the area of biocatalysis with Dr Elaine O’Reilly at University College Dublin, before moving to the University of St Andrews. There, she obtained an MSc(Res) degree – working on organocatalytic enantioselective sigmatropic rearrangements, under the supervision of Prof. Andrew Smith. 

In September 2022, Órla commenced her doctoral studies as part of the iCAT CDT at the University of Manchester and completed her first lab rotation under the joint supervision of Dr Jack Rowbotham and Prof. Anthony Green at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology. She has now joined the Crisenza group for 3 months, and her research will focus on the development of electrochemical and photochemical methods for the functionalisation of alkenes.

Next Appointment: PhD Student @ The University of Manchester                                       supervisors: Prof. D. J. Procter & Prof. A. P. Green