Holland Lab
Medicinal Radiochemistry
Prof. Dr Jason p. holland
Principal investigator
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Jason is from Yorkshire in the United Kingdom and received a master’s degree in Chemistry from the University of York (MChem, 2004) followed by a doctorate from the University of Oxford (D.Phil, 2008). He trained as post-doctoral scholar with Jason S. Lewis in radiochemistry and translational molecular imaging at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York (2008 – 2010). He was then awarded an ETH Fellowship and worked at ETH Zürich and the Paul Scherrer Institute (2010 – 2012). Following this he was appointed as Assistant in Chemistry in the Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, with a joint faculty appointment as an Instructor in Radiology at Harvard Medical School (2012 – 2014). In 2015, he worked in the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the University Hospital Freiburg as a Visiting Scientist. In April 2016, Jason began his research group as an SNSF Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Zurich, funded by the European Research Council, the Swiss National Science Foundation and the University of Zurich. Research activities focus on advancing radiochemical methods with various radionuclides (18F, 64Cu, 68Ga, 90Y, 89Zr, 111In, 177Lu etc), and developing molecular imaging agents that target oncogenic signalling pathways in cancer.
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Outside the lab, Jason enjoys spending time with family, walking in the Alps, drinking wine and cooking spicy curries.
Prof. Feize Li
Visiting Professor
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Feize is from Chengdu, China and obtained his bachelor and doctor degrees in radiochemistry from Sichuan University from 2009 to 2019, where he joined as an assistant professor in October 2019. From 2016 to 2018, he worked as a visiting doctor at the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, investigating metal-organic rotaxane frameworks. He is now an associate professor at the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology of Sichuan University. His research interest is focused on targeted radionuclide therapy, especially those based on alpha emitters.
From June 2024, he joined the Holland group as a visiting associate professor, working on supramolecular radiopharmaceuticals.
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Outside of the lab, Feize likes badminton and table tennis.
Dr JAmes w. southwell
Post-doc Chemistry (oct 2024 - present)
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James is from Leicestershire, United Kingdom and obtained a master’s degree in Chemistry at the University of York in 2017, with a year in industry at the pharmaceutical company Redx Pharma. Following this, he started his doctoral studies at the same institute under the supervision of Profs. Duhme-Klair and Wilson, investigating bio-orthgonal catalysis for the activation of antibiotic prodrugs. After defending his PhD thesis in December 2021, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Chimie ParisTech, France under the supervision of Prof. Gilles Gasser working on novel radionuclide chelators and osmium conjugates for photodynamic therapy.
In October 2024, James started his second postdoctoral position with Prof. Holland, researching novel approaches to radionuclide coordination and their bio-conjugation to targeting proteins.
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Besides the lab, James enjoys to play football, board games and travel.
Dr Cesare Berton
Post-doc Chemistry (Feb 2023 - present)
Cesare is from Bassano del Grappa, Italy. He obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees in the University of Padova under the supervision of Prof. Cristiano Zonta working on molecular recognition events, organic synthesis and spectroscopy. The following step in his pathway was the Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering obtained at EPFL under the joint supervision of Prof. Kay Severin from the Laboratoire de Chimie Supramoléculaire and Dr. Cristian Pezzato. During the doctoral times, he investigated the synthesis and the aqueous photochemistry of merocyanine photoacids, with particular emphasis on synthesis and spectroscopy of these photoreactive chromophores.
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From February 2023, he joined the Holland group for working on supramolecular assemblies and photochemistry for radiolabelling.
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Outside of the lab, Cesare likes open-air activities like hiking, skiing and teamsports in general.
Simon Klingler
Phd student (apr 2021 - present)
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Simon is form Langenthal, near Bern and completed his bachelor`s and master's degree in chemistry at the University of Zurich.
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His project focuses on developing new methods for radiolabelling proteins and peptides.
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Outside the lab, Simon can often be encountered riding his gravel-bike. He is passionate about music and visits many concerts.
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Jonas Genz
Phd student (Feb 2022 - present)
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Jonas is from Potsdam, Germany and completed his undergraduate studies at the Freie Universität Berlin. During his Master Thesis with Pr. Ulrich Abram, he synthesized novel highly reduced Technetium-99g and Rhenium complexes in the oxidation state "-I" and mixed nitrosyl-carbonyl complexes.
His research focuses on the synthesis and preclinical evaluation of Technetium-99m and Rhenium-188 radiopharmaceuticals for diagnostics and therapy respectively.
Outside the lab, Jonas loves to ride his road bike, fight for animal rights, go hiking, skiing and going to the gym.
Fan Liu
Phd student (oct 2022 - present)
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Fan is from Hunan in the mountainous southern China. She completed her Masters at Zhejiang University in 2022 where she worked on B–H activation and functionalization of carborane.
Her project focuses on the application of selectively functionalized carborane in radiochemistry.
Outside the lab, Fan likes photography, travelling and music.
Stanislav Prytuliak
Phd student (Aug 2022 - present)
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Stan is from Vinnytsia, Ukraine and completed his Bachelor’s degree at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. He obtained his Master’s degree from the Technical University of Munich, where he worked on novel peptidomimetic CXCR4-targeting radiotracers in the group of Prof. Angela Casini.
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His research focuses on the synthesis and preclinical evaluation of glycopeptides and peptide conjugates.
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Outside the lab, Stan loves to build various doomsday devices, play guitar, travel, and go to the gym.
Eda Nisli
PHD student (Apr 2023 - present)
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Eda is from Solothurn, Switzerland. During her Bachelor´s thesis she synthsised photochemically active dyes (PhotoTags) based on cyanines. After completing her Master´s at University of Zurich she did an internship at Charité Berlin in collaboration with the Freie Universität Berlin, where she worked on metallacages.
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Her research concentrates on radioimmunoconjugates.
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Outside the lab, Eda likes traveling, swimming, scuba-diving and photography.
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Deborah bäcker
PHD student (Feb 2024 - present)
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Deborah completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Freiburg in 2022. During her Bachelor’s thesis, she specialized on sugar chemistry in the field of natural product synthesis under the guidance of Prof. Reinhard Brückner. In her Master’s thesis, she worked in the fields of molecular biology and biochemistry with Prof. Oliver Einsle.
Since starting her PhD in February 2024, Deborah shifted gears to focus on the field of supramolecular chemistry. Her current research is pivoting around the design and synthesis of rotaxanes to selectively target cancer cells with radioactivity.
Outside the lab, Deborah is an active sportswoman who is particularly passionate about soccer and tennis and enjoys spending time hiking or skiing in the outdoors.
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Perle Hermant
PhD student (APR 2024 - present)
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Perle is from Reims, in the northeast of France. She earned her engineering degree from the National School of Chemistry of Rennes in the field of chemistry for life sciences, as well as a master's degree in organic chemistry from the University of Rennes in 2022. For her final internship, she worked at the Rennes Institute of Chemical Sciences, focusing on glycochemistry and biocatalysis for natural product synthesis under the guidance of Loic Lemiegre.
Her research focuses on synthesizing new radiotracers combining sultone chemistry and photochemistry. This project is a collaboration with the Cyceron team in Caen in France, under the co-supervision of Cécile Perrio.
Outside of the laboratory, Perle enjoys traveling, running, and hiking.
Samy Kichou
PhD student (May 2024 - present)
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Samy is from Buchrain, near Lucerne, and completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of Bern and his master’s degree in chemistry at the University of Zurich. His master’s thesis focused on polymerizing radiolabeled monomers from proteins.
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His research focuses on the continuation of his master’s project and on new labeling strategies for Technetium compounds.
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Outside of the lab, Samy enjoys bouldering, inline skating, video games, and board games.
Dominik ernst
masters student (sep 2024 - present)
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Dominik is from Oberweningen, a small village in the Kanton of Zurich. He completed his Bachelor at the University of Zurich. For his bachelor thesis, he investigated the kinetics and enantioselectivity of copper based fluorescent molecular detectors. Before he began his master studies, Dominik worked in the private sector on a research project regarding solid state batteries and completed an internship at a pharmaceutical company.
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He is currently researching novel ligand systems for the stable complexation of Technetium-99m and Rhenium-188 for diagnostics and therapy, respectively.
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In his spare time, Dominik takes joy in travelling, reading and is engaged in different sports.
IAN SAxer
masters student (OCT 2024 - present)
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Ian is from Hägglingen, a small village in Aargau. He earned his Bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Zurich, where he completed his thesis in the Holland group, investigating aluminium fluoride chelators and their corresponding PSMA bioconjugates.
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In his Master thesis, he is working on novel multi-metal chelators for the stable complexation of medicinally relevant radionuclides.
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Outside of the lab, Ian enjoys football, traveling, and playing cards.
LIAM Wenger
masters student (OCT 2024 - present)
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Liam is from Oberdorf BL and completed his Bachelor's degree at the University of Zürich in Chemistry & Business Studies. His thesis from the lab of Prof. Dr. Tilley focused on the synthesis of novel catalysts for the electrochemical oxidation of ammonia.
In his Master's thesis Liam specialises in metal-based ligands for photoactivated conjugation chemistry.
In his time outside of the lab, Liam enjoys playing football, traveling and playing board games.
Alumni
Patrick A. Cieslik
Post-doc Chemistry (oct 2022 - Oct 2024)
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Daniel Earley
Post-doc Chemistry
(Sep 2019 - Jan 2023)
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Dr Amaury Guillou
Post-doc Chemistry
(Jul 2019 - Mar 2022)
Laura Nüesch
Bachelor's student
(Feb 2020 - Apr 2020)
Melanie gut
Phd student
(Aug 2018 - Sep 2022)
Faustine d'orchymont
POST-DOC / PHD chemistry
Shamisa Behmaneshfar
Master's student
(Feb 2020 - Dec 2020)
Rachael fay
Phd student
(mar 2017 - apr 2021)
Florian gribi
Phd student
(Aug 2017 - 2022)
Dr Eliane Fischer
Senior scientist
(Post-doc biochemistry)
Linus Reichert
Bachelor's student
(Feb 2020 - Oct 2020)
Jennifer lamb
Phd student
(aug 2016 - Sept 2020)
Dr Malay patra
Senior scientist
(Post-doc chemistry)
David Wunderlin
Bachelor's student
(Feb 2018 - Jul 2018)
Jose Esteban Flores
Phd student
(Feb 2018 - Mar 2022)
Mirusche Suloska
bachelor's student
(Feb 2020 - Oct 202)
Patricia Pires-Räth
Master's student
(Aug 2019 - sept 2020)
Rita Sala Faig
Visiting Phd student
(Feb 2019 - Aug 2019)
Jan Bühler
Research co-worker
(Jun 2020 - present)
Larissa eichenberger
master's student
(Sept 2017 - Aug 2018)
Onofre Munar
Project student
(Feb 2018 - Jun 2018)
Allan Murphy
Master's student
(Feb 2018 - Jan 2019)
open positions
All open positions for Post-doctoral scientists and PhD students are advertised on the Department of Chemistry, University of Zurich website.
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Prospective Bachelor's and Master's students are kindly requested to contact Prof. Dr Jason Holland directly.
