Chemistry in lipid vesicles
Dr Tomas obtained BSc and PhD in Chemistry at the Universitat de les Illes Balears, Spain. He then joined the research group of Prof Chris Hunter in the University of Sheffield as PDRA. In 2006 Dr Tomas joined Birkbeck in 2006 as Academic Fellow, becoming Lecturer in Chemical Biology in 2010.
Dr Tomas is an expert in physical organic chemistry. His research focuses on the study of molecular recognition, self-assembling and chemical reactivity in lipid membrane environments. The overall direction of Dr Tomas' research is set by the prospects of (i) elucidating the role that compartmentalisation furnished by lipid vesicles plays in abiogenesis and (ii) the bottom-up synthesis of artificial cells.
Current research aims include (i) learning how to manipulate weak interaction co-operativity to construct molecular machines and (ii) creating functional devices (sensors, nano-reactors, drug delivery vehicles) based on lipid vesicles. The general approach consists in the use of well designed, synthetic molecules that allow a rigorous characterisation of their self-assembling and reactivity properties.