Jon completed his PhD in Organic Chemistry in the lab of Prof Tom Brown at Southampton University, UK. This project investigated oligonucleotide probes for genetic analysis and received a CASE award from the biotech company, Eurogentec, who developed this work into a commercial product (part of their Deep Dark Quencher range).

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Jon was then awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from The Royal Society to travel to the west coast of Canada and investigate DNAzymes (enzymes made out of modified DNA) and bicyclic peptide synthesis (the amatoxins and phallotoxins) at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver) in the lab of Prof David Perrin. Following this postdoc, Jon was hired by a translational research company, the Centre for Drug Research and Development (CDRD) also in Vancouver, where he worked in the Medicinal Chemistry and Formulation Development teams on a range of projects of different drug classes. This experience then led to another postdoctoral position studying Nanomedicine at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (Toronto, Canada). Here, Jon pursued an interest in stimulated-release formulations for cancer under the supervision of Dr Shyh-Dar Li, where a particular focus was a temperature-sensitive liposome called HaT (Heat activated cytoToxic).

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Jon then returned to the UK, where he took a position at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research (NICR), Newcastle, studying peptide-drug conjugates, before taking on his current position at the University of Southampton as part of the EPSRC Bubble For Bone group; a collaboration between the Universities of Oxford and Southampton (current supervisors: Dr Nick Evans, Dr Dario Carugo and Prof Eleanor Stride). Jon is currently studying different ultrasound sensitive formulations and their ability to deliver payload to bone in vivo, utilising both micro-CT and fluorescent in vivo imaging.

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When Jon is not busily working away on bubbles and droplets, he likes to get outdoors. He is a keen cyclist, swimmer and hiker, but is not fussy on the mode of transport and when the opportunity arises, he will happily kayak, surf, mountain bike, snowboard or ski, and then finish the day camping under canvas with a good old campfire!