Education
Doctoral Studies
The University of York, UK (Ph.D. degree obtained in June 2010) – Supervisor: Prof. Richard Taylor, Ph.D., Telescoped approaches to α-alkylidene-γ-butyrolactones: the total synthesis of yomogin.
University
The University of Leeds, UK, MChem in Chemistry with Industrial Placement Year 2.1 (equivalent to MSc.)
Secondary School
The Rutland College, Oakham, Rutland, UK (A-levels in Chemistry [A], Maths [B] and Computing [C] )
Vale of Catmose College, Oakham, Rutland, UK
Professional qualifications and skills, professional membership, awards
- Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), UK (2019)
- Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence (WATE) Winner 2018
- Two-time winner of the Warwick Chemistry Departmental Andrew McCamley teaching award.
- Winner of the Warwick SU Staff Contribution to Student Voice Award 2020.
- Alumnus Fellow of the Warwick International Higher Education Academy (2016-19).
- Significant expertise in online and blended learning.
- Significant expertise in active learning approaches and game-based learning.
- Associate Teachers’ Programme (ATP) Qualification. Completed at the University of Nottingham (2015).
- Computer Skills: advanced user
- Language Skills: English (native), Czech (basic, but improving)
Scientific grants
- Multiple grants secured for short education-based projects, totalling ca. £75k
Interests
Research
- The synthesis of new geldanamycin derivatives and their use as therapeutics for cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and as antibiotics.
- Heat shock protein inhibition for the treatment of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.
- New synthetic approaches to the synthesis of molecules of biological interest.
Personal
- Football, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, beekeeping, hiking.
Work experience
- Associate Professor, Director of Education- The University of Warwick: 2018-2022
- Senior Teaching Fellow- The University of Warwick: 2015-2018
- Teaching Fellow- The University of Nottingham: 2014-2015
- Postdoctoral Researcher in the group of Prof. Chris Moody- The University of Nottingham: 2010-2014
- Sygnature Chemical Services Ltd. (now Sygnature Discovery), Nottingham, UK: 2010
- AstraZeneca, Charnwood, Loughborough, UK: 2004-2005 and 2006
Foreign experience
- Research and teaching positions in the UK and the Czech Republic.
- Multiple international conferences and presentations.
International cooperation
- Dr. David Fox (University of Warwick, UK).
- Dr. Matt Jenner (University of Warwick, UK).
- Dr. Liam Baird (Tohoku University, Japan)
Other
- Supervisor, co-supervisor and reviewer of Master’s theses (University of Warwick).
- External reviewer for multiple scientific journals.
List of publications
- 27 Publications, 12 as corresponding/first author, including 2 reviews, 1 book review, 2 book chapters, 1 co-authored book and 1 patent.
- Total citations: 864 (January 2023, Web of Science).
- H-index: 15 (January 2023, Web of Science).
Articles
27. 2022 Quinone Synthesis and a Visual Introduction to Column Chromatography:An Undergraduate Experiment: Pearson, D. L., Kitson, R.R.A., J. Chem. Educ., 2022, 99, 3731-3734. Article can be found here.
26. 2022 The Black Student Experience: Comparing STEM Undergraduate Student Experiences at Higher Education Institutions of Varying Student Demographic: Greaves, R., Kelestyn, B., Blackburn, R. A. R., Kitson, R.R.A., J. Chem. Educ., 2022, 99, 56-70. Article can be found here.
25. 2021 Book: RSC Chemistry Student Guides: Introduction to Stereochemistry: Clark, A. J., Kitson, R.R.A., Mistry, N., Taylor, P., Taylor, M., Lloyd, M., Akamune, C. Print ISBN: 978-1-83916-182-7. Article can be found here.
24. 2021 Synthesis of novel geldanamycin derivatives: Kitson, R.R.A., Moody C. J., Tetrahedron, 2021, 82, 131927-131933. Article can be found here.
23. 2020 ‘They help us realise what we’re actually gaining’: The impact on undergraduates and teaching staff of displaying transferable skills badges.: Hill, M. A., Overton, T. L., Kitson, R.R.A., Thompson, C. D., Brookes, R. H, Coppo, P., Bayley, L., Active Learn. Higher Educ., 2020, 23, 17-34. Article can be found here.
22. 2019 Investigating student and staff perceptions of students’ experiences in teaching laboratories through the lens of meaningful learning.: George-Williams, S. R., Karis, D., Ziebell, A.L., Kitson, R.R.A., Coppo, P., Schmid, S., Thompson, C. D.,, Overton, T. L., Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2019, 20, 187-196. Article can be found here.
21. 2019 Undergraduate Recognition of Curriculum-Related Skill Development And The Skills Employers Are Seeking.: Hill, M. A., Overton, T. L., Thompson, C. D., Kitson, R.R.A., Coppo, P., Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2019, 20, 68-84. Article can be found here.
20. 2018 ‘What Do You Think The Aims Of Doing A Practical Chemistry Course Are?’ A Comparison Of The Views Of Students And Teaching Staff Across Three Universities.: George-Williams, S. R., Ziebell, A. L., Kitson, R.R.A., Coppo, P., Thompson, C. D., Overton, T. L., Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2018, 19, 463-473. Article can be found here.
19. 2016 Formal Total Synthesis of Diazonamide A by Indole Oxidative Rearrangement.: David, N., Pasceri, R., Kitson, R.R.A., Pradal, A., Moody, C.J., Chem. Eur. J., 2016, 22, 10867-10876. Article can be found here.
18. 2015 A Novel Hsp90 Inhibitor Activates Compensatory Heat Shock Protein Responses and Autophagy and Alleviates Mutant A53T alpha-Synuclein Toxicity.: Xiong, R., Zhou, W., Siegel, D., Kitson, R.R.A., Freed, C. R., Moody, C.J., Ross, D., Mol. Pharm., 2015, 88, 1045-1054. Article can be found here.
17. 2015 Book review: Inhibitors of Molecular Chaperones: Kitson, R.R.A., ChemMedChem, 2015, 10, 581-582.
16. 2014 Synthesis of macrolactam analogues of radicicol and their binding to heat shock protein Hsp90: Dutton, B. L., Kitson, R.R.A., Parry-Morris, S., Roe, S.M., Prodromou, C., Moody, C.J., Org. Biomol.Chem., 2014, 12, 1328-1340. Article can be found here.
15. 2014 RSC Book Chapter: Recent Advances in Macrocyclic Hsp90 Inhibitors: Ramsay, D.M., Kitson, R.R.A., Levin, J.I., Moody, C.J., McAlpine, S.R., 2014, Print ISBN: 978-1-84973-701-2.
14. 2014 EROS Book Chapter: Ethyl 2-acetamido Acrylate: Kitson, R.R.A., Moody, C.J., 2014, DOI:10.1002/047084289X.rn01635.
13. 2014 19-Substituted benzoquinone ansamycin heat shock protein-90 inhibitors: Biological activity and decreased off-target toxicity: Chang, C.-H., Dreschel, D.A., Kitson, R.R.A., Siegel, D., You, Q., Backos, D.S., Ju, C., Moody, C.J., Ross, D., Mol. Pharm., 2014, 85, 849-857. Article can be found here.
12. 2014 Heat shock protein 90 controls HIV-1 reactivation from latency: Anderson, I., Low, J.S., Weston, S., Weinberger, M., Zhyvouloup, A., Labokha, A.A., Corazza, G., Kitson, R.R.A., Moody, C.J., Marcello, A., Fassati, A., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 2014, 111, E1528-E1537. Article can be found here.
11. 2014 Toward the Total Synthesis of Hygrocin B and Divergolide C: Construction of the Naphthoquinone–Azepinone Core: Nawrat, C.C., Kitson, R.R.A., Moody, C.J., Org. Lett., 2014, 16, 1896-1899. Article can be found here.
10. 2014 Synthesis of toxyloxanthone B: Giallombardo, D., Nevin, A.C., Lewis, W., Nawrat, C.C., Kitson, R.R.A., Moody, C.J., Tetrahedron, 2014, 70, 1283-1288. Article can be found here.
9. 2013 An Improved Route to 19-Substituted Geldanamycins: Kitson, R.R.A., Moody, C.J., Chem.Commun., 2013, 49, 8441-8443. Article can be found here.
8. 2013 Review: Learning from Nature: Advances in Geldanamycin and Radicicol-Based Inhibitors of Hsp90: Kitson, R.R.A., Moody, C.J., J. Org. Chem., 2013, 78, 5117-5141. Article can be found here.
7. 2013 Synthesis of 19-substituted geldanamycins with altered conformations and their binding to heat shock protein Hsp90: Kitson, R.R.A., Chang, C.-H., Xiong, R., Dehn, D. L., Williams, H.E.L, Davis, A.L., Lewis, W., Siegel, D., Roe, S.M., Prodromou, C., Ross, D., Moody, C.J., Nature Chem. 2013, 5, 307-314. Article can be found here.
6. 2011 Patent: HSP-90 Inhibitors With Modified Toxicity: Kitson, R.R.A., Reigan, P., Siegel, D., Ross, D., Moody, C. J., Submitted Nov-2011, reviewed Nov-2012.
5. 2011 Synthesis of Yomogin Using a Telescoped α-Methylene-γ-butyrolactone Annelation Procedure:Kitson, R.R.A., McAllister, G.D., Taylor, R.J.K., Tetrahedron. Lett., 2011, 561-564. Article can be found here.
4. 2009 Review: The Renaissance of α-Methylene-γ-butyrolactones: New Synthetic Approaches: Kitson, R.R.A., Millemaggi, A., Taylor, R.J.K., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2009, 9426-9451. Article can be found here.
3. 2009 A One-Pot, Base-Free Annelation Approach to α-Alkylidene-γ- butyrolactones: Kitson, R.R.A., Taylor, R.J.K., Wood, J.L., Org. Lett., 2009, 5338-5341. Article can be found here.
2. 2008 The Telescoped Intramolecular Michael/Olefination (TIMO) Approach to α-Alkylidene-γ-butyrolactones: Synthesis of (+)-Paeonilactone B: Edwards, M.G., Kenworthy M.N., Kitson, R.R.A., Scott, M.S., Taylor, R.J.K. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2008, 1935-1937. Article can be found here. Article can be found here.
1. 2008 The preparation of α-Alkylidene-γ-butyrolactones using a telescoped intramolecular Michael/Olefination (TIMO) sequence: Synthesis of (+)-Paeonilactone B: Edwards, M.G., Kenworthy M.N., Kitson, R.R.A., Perry, A., Scott, M.S., Whitwood, A.C., Taylor, R.J.K. Eur. J. Org. Chem., 2008, 4769-4783. Article can be found here.
Conference Papers
2015
Effect of 19-substituted benzoquinone ansamycin Hsp90 inhibitors on Hsp90/Cdc37/co-chaperone complexes and casein kinase 2 (CK2) activity
By: Chang, Chuan-Hsin; Rossi, David; Siegel, David; et al.
Conference: 106th Annual Meeting of the American-Association-for-Cancer-Research (AACR)
2014
19-Substituted benzoquinone ansamycins. Hsp90 inhibitors with decreased off-target toxicity
By: Chang, Chuan-Hsin; Drechsel, Derek A.; Kitson, Russell R. A.; et al.
Conference: 105th Annual Meeting of the American-Association-for-Cancer-Research (AACR)
19-Substituted benzoquinone ansamycin Hsp90 inhibitors: Effects on Hsp90 co-chaperones and Hsp90- Hsf1 complexes in cellular systems
By: Drechsel, Derek A.; Chang, Chuan-Hsin; Kitson, Russell; et al.
Conference: 105th Annual Meeting of the American-Association-for-Cancer-Research (AACR)
2012
The development of 19-substituted benzoquinone ansamycins as potential anticancer drugs
By: Chang, Chuan-Hsin; Kitson, Russell; Siegel, David; et al.
CANCER RESEARCH Volume: 72 Supplement: 8 Meeting Abstract: 2769 Published: APR 15 2012
Conference and Outreach Talks
2022 Presentation-invited speaker ‘The Black Student Experience: Comparing STEM Undergraduate Student Experiences at Higher Education Institutions of Varying Student Demographic’ Methods in Chemistry Education Research-MICER, (May 2022).
2022 Presentation-invited speaker ‘The Black Student Experience: Comparing STEM Undergraduate Student Experiences at Higher Education Institutions of Varying Student Demographic’ University of York, Higher Education Group Inequalities in Chemistry Higher Education, (March 2022).
2019 Presentation-invited speaker ‘And Now For Something Completely Different’ Oakham School, (March 2019).
2018 Presentation-invited speaker ‘And Now For Something Completely Different’ Uppingham School, (March 2018).
2017 Presentation ‘And Now For Something Completely Different’ University of Warwick, RSC Departmental Seminar (October 2017).
2017 Presentation ‘Teaching structure-elucidation through a game-based practical experiment’ University of York, Variety in Chemistry Education – VicePhec (August 2017).
2014 Presentation ‘Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel Hsp90 inhibitors with reduced toxicity’ at the RSC Macrocycles Conference, Zagreb, Croatia (April 2014).
2013 Presentation ‘Flicking the Conformational Switch’ at the RSC East Midlands Regional Meeting, Nottingham Trent University (March 2013).
2013 Presentation ‘Flicking the Conformational Switch’ at the University of Nottingham Dan Eley Symposium (Jan 2013).
2012 Poster ‘19-Substituted Geldanamycins: Potential Therapeutics in Neurodegenerative Disease’ presented at the 6th Conference for the Hsp90 Chaperone Machine, Les Diablarets, Switzerland (Sept 2012).
2012 Presentation ‘Flicking the Conformational Switch’ at the University of Nottingham (Aug 2012).
2011 Poster ‘19-Substituted Geldanamycins as Novel HSP-90 Inhibitors’ presented at the 2011 AACR targets meeting in San Francisco (Nov 2011).
2008 One of eight British speakers selected to give a research presentation at J-NOST-4, Madurai,