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Joey Lai - PhD Candidate

Joey was born in Vancouver, B.C., and has a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from UBC. He has been in the Sammis Group since the summer of 2017, and he has worked on radical cyclization of oximes and hydrazones and on deoxyfluorination of alcohols. He continued in the group, starting his PhD in 2021, working on S(IV) mediated peptide couplings.

 

When he is not busy studying, Joey enjoys staying indoors reading, playing games, or looking at pictures of cats.

Will Chappell - PhD Candidate

 

Will was born in Bristol, UK, and grew up in Penarth, South Wales. He completed his MChem in Chemistry from the University of Oxford in 2020. For his Master's project he worked in Prof. Martin D. Smith's lab, investigating atropselective cyclisation reactions. He then worked as a Scientist for Evotec before joining the Sammis group in 2021. In the group he has worked on one-pot reactions of thionyl fluoride, and aspects of cannabinoid synthesis.

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In his free time, Will enjoys hiking, reading and watching SFF, travelling, cooking, and caring way too much about public transit.

Sean Betteridge - PhD Candidate

 
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Sean joined the group in 2023 after completing a Bachelor of Chemistry at the University of Toronto. Inside the lab Sean’s current research includes areas of both fluorine and opioid chemistry. Outside of the lab Sean can be found hiking or fishing.

Moumita Saha - PhD Student

 
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Moumita was born in Yokohama, Japan, and grew up in Vancouver, BC. She completed her BSc in Chemistry and Biochemistry from UBC in 2024. During her undergraduate, she worked as a research assistant in Prof. Donald Brooks’ lab where she optimized the synthesis of choline phosphate-bearing hyperbranched polyglycerols to develop a novel hemostatic agent.

 

She also worked as a Co-op student at Genevant Sciences Corporation in Vancouver under the supervision of Mark Wood. There, she synthesized novel ionizable lipids for use in LNP formulations.

 

She then joined Dr. Sammis’ lab as a graduate student in 2024, where she is currently working on developing a novel ecofriendly sulfur(IV)-based fluorinating agent.

 

Outside the lab, Moumita enjoys reading novels, binging TV shows, and spending time with her family and friends.

Dana Park - Incoming PhD Student

 

Bio coming soon.

Our Post-Doctoral Researchers...

Korey Bedard - Post-Doc

Dr. Korey Bedard is a postdoctoral fellow who has been working in the Sammis Lab since late 2022. Korey completed a BSc. in biochemistry at Brock University in St. Catharines, ON. He would later obtain his PhD in synthetic organic chemistry at the same institution, under the supervision of Dr. Tomas Hudlicky. His PhD. research focused on the total synthesis of anti-cancer natural products and their unnatural analogues, as well as exploiting enzymatic transformations in total synthesis.

 

Since joining our lab, Korey has focused on synthesizing chemically modified fentanyl derivatives for use in calibrating and improving a fentanyl detection system. He has also collaborated with local biotech companies to assist with the synthesis of novel ionizable lipids and helper lipids for use in lipid nanoparticle (LNP) formulations.

 

Away from the lab, Korey is an avid hockey fan and stays busy playing ball and ice hockey, along with golf and baseball. He enjoys going out and exploring the Vancouver area - whether it's taking in the views while hiking or checking out local restaurants and breweries.

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Christian Jankovic - Post-Doc

Christian was born in Edmonton, Alberta, and obtained his BSc in Chemistry at the University of Alberta. He then completed his PhD at the same institution, where his research focused on the development of novel reactions of transient cyclic allenes, under the supervision of Dr.

Frederick West. He then went on to work for adMare BioInnovations as an industrial postdoctoral fellow before joining the Sammis lab in 2025.

Since joining the lab, Christian has focused on the synthesis of new prodrugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

 

Outside of the lab, Christian enjoys fishing, collecting vintage vinyl records, and trying new restaurants and pubs.

Our Undergraduate Students...

Morgan Pugh - NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Assistant

Morgan is from Vancouver, BC, and is pursuing a BSc in Hons. Chemical Biology. Since joining the lab in 2025, her research focus has been in opioid chemistry. Outside of the lab, Morgan enjoys playing guitar and hiking.

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Our Alumni and Past Members...

Past Post-Doctoral Researchers:

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  • Dr. Taniya Adak (2024)

    • Scientist at Cytiva

  • Dr. Blessing Cao (2019)

  • Dr. Takahito Kasahara (2015)

    • Research Scientist at Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.

  • Dr. Montserrat Rueda Becerril (2014)

    • Lecturer at UBC​

  • Dr. Huimin (Robby) Zhai (2011)

    • Senior Research Scientist Eurofins Alphora, Alphora Research Inc.

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Graduated PhD Students:

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  • Dr. Brodie Thomson (2024)

    • Post-Doctoral Researcher at UBC (Prof. Shyh-Dar Li)

  • Dr. Trevor Bolduc (2023)

    • Assistant Professor of Teaching at UC Riverside

  • Dr. Cayo Lee (2022)

    • Principle Engineer (R&D) at TSMC

  • Dr. Kayi (Jia Yi) Mo (2021)

    • Research Scientist at Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • Dr. Paul Foth (2021)

    • Research Scientist at NuChem Therapeutics​​​​​

  • Dr. Maxim Epifanov (2020)

    • Research Scientist at NuChem Therapeutics

  • Dr. Wei Zhang (2019)

    • Research Scientist at Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • Dr. Claire Chatalova Sazepin (2015)

    • Senior Research Scientist at OmegaChem Inc.

  • Dr. Natalie Campbell (2014)

    • Intellectual Property Manager at Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc.

  • Dr. Joe Leung (2014)

    • Chemical Account Manager at ThermoFisher Scientific

  • Dr. Montserrat Rueda-Becerril (2014)

    • Lecturer at UBC

  • Dr. Jason Wickenden (2013)

    • Associate Professor of Teaching at UBC

  • Dr. Hai Zhu (2013)

    • Research Scientist at Nanosyn Inc.​

  • Dr. Maria Zlotorzynska (2012)

    • Associate Director, Research Projects at Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University

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Graduated MSc Students:

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  • Meruyert Binayeva (2015)

    • PhD - City University of New York

    • Process Chemist - Continuity Pharma

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Graduated/Past Undergraduate Students:

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  • Pedro Bucker (2025) Chem 449 Honours Thesis

    • PhD Student - McGill University

  • Robert Plavan (2024) Chem 448 Directed Studies

  • Dillon Thiesen (2024) Chem 449 Honours Thesis

  • William Yang (2023) Chem 445 Research Learning Experience

    • MSc Student - Simon Fraser University (Prof. Britton)

  • Will Wang (2023) Chem 449 Honours Thesis

  • Kathleen Downey (2022) Chem 449 Honours Thesis

    • PhD Student - MIT (Prof. Movassaghi)

  • Alina Cook (2021) Chem 449 Honours Thesis

    • PhD Student - Stanford University (Prof. Burns)​

  • Hao Yu (2020) Chem 449 Honours Thesis

    • PhD Student - Caltech​ (Prof. Stoltz)

  • Joey Lai (2020) Chem 448 Directed Studies

    • PhD Candiate - UBC (Prof. Sammis)

  • Cindy Wang (2019) Chem 445 Research Learning Experience​​

    • Health Science Professional (Vancouver Coastal Health)​

  • Frances Gu (2019) Chem 449 Honours Thesis

    • PhD Candidate - University of Michigan​ (Prof. Sanford)

  • James Guthrie (2019) Research Assistant

    • PhD Student - University of Toronto (Prof. Taylor)

  • Katrina Lim (2019) Chem 445 Research Learning Experience​

    • MSc Student - Simon Fraser University (Prof. Vocadlo)​

  • Sahil Kanani (2018) Undergraduate Researcher

    • Chem 449 Honours Thesis (UBC, Algar Group)​

  • Cynthia Yang (2017)​​

    • MA - Liberty University

    • Counselor and Client Services Supervisor - Prestenwood Pregnancy Center

  • Sebastian De Vries (2017)​

  • Urmi Mody (2017)​

    • PhD Candiate - UBC (Prof. Wolf)

  • Benjamin R. Boswell (2016) Chem 449 Honours Thesis

    • PhD - Stanford University​

    • Senior Scientist - Exelixis

  • Chirag Apte (2016)

    • PhD - University of Toronto​ (Prof. Yudin)

    • Research Scientist - X-Chem Inc.

  • Josiah Newton (2016)​

  • Andy Yen (2014)

  • Jason Hudlicky (2013) Chem 449 Honours Thesis

    • PhD - Vanderbilt University​ (Prof. Sulikowski)

    • Research Scientist - Gilead Sciences

  • Julian G. West (2013) Chem 449 Honours Thesis

    • PhD - Princeton University (Prof. Sorensen)

    • Assistant Professor at Rice University

  • Kayli Johnson (2010) Chem 449 Honours Thesis

    • Associate Professor of Teaching at The University of British Columbia​

  • Kenneth Chan (2010)

  • Christine Dunbar (2009) Chem 449 Honours Thesis

    • Web Developer at The Coding Chemist - Freelance​

  • Colin Bridges (2009)​

  • (Madeleine) Zarya Cynader​ (2007)

  • Cam Reive

  • Jackie Luk​

  • Kye Seo Hwang​

  • Manu Jagdeo​

  • Sahel Jalali​​

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Past Visiting Students:

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  • Maxi Bagus

  • Carlota Bahri

    • Master's student - Sourbonne Université

  • Marie Favié

  • Marie-Claire Jiang

    • Étudiant doctorant - Institut Pasteur

  • Alice Brulet

  • Céline Bouchereau

  • Charlotte Barrillon

  • Florian Bahe

  • Guillaume Briand

  • Jack Hodgson

  • Josh Abernethy

  • Maximilian Wurzenberger

  • Maxwell Babiuk

  • Morgane Seradin

  • Orane Christin

  • Romain Meunier

  • Rudy Dubois

  • Yuri Shpinov

 

Our Graduate Students...

Meet Our Team...

© 2022 The Sammis Group

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