Jon Sellars obtained his first degree from the University of Huddersfield, graduating with an MChem 1st class honours in Chemistry with medicinal chemistry. Within the programme, he undertook a 1-year industrial placement with F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel, Switzerland focusing on the synthesis of functionalised pyrimidines for screening in bioassays targeted to elucidate their effects on cholesterol biosynthesis. Upon returning to the final year of his degree, his 4th-year research project was sponsored by F. Hoffmann-La Roche and focused on the Multistep synthesis of P2Y12 receptor inhibitors, which retard platelet aggregation and will be an alternative to aspirin. Additionally, throughout his degree, he was awarded several prizes, including the J. Blamires Departmental Chemistry Prize for excellent results in my first year. The Ross Thomson Industrial Training Prize for outstanding performance during my industrial placement, the W. Blamires Prize for outstanding performance during my final year presented by Prof. Steven V. Ley CBE FRS and an RSC (West Yorkshire division) prize.
Following this period, he moved to Durham University to undertake a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Patrick Steel, investigating the utility of silacyclohex-4-enes in organic synthesis. Subsequent employment at Sanofi-Aventis in Alnwick working on radio labelling active pharmaceutical ingredients was followed by a return to Durham University in 2008, to undertake a post-doctoral position with Prof. Patrick Steel and Prof. Robert Edwards investigating multiple herbicide resistance in black grass (supported by Syngenta).
In 2010, Jon was awarded an EPSRC Life Sciences Interface Fellowship to develop novel proteomic probes to study cytochrome P450s. After completion, Jon undertook a teaching fellowship at Durham University where in 2015 was appointed to a lectureship in medicinal chemistry at the School of Pharmacy. In August 2017 the School was transferred to Newcastle University resulting in the creation of the School of Pharmacy.
