Professor Oscar Ces, Professor of Chemical Biology and currently Director of the Institute of Chemical Biology, has accepted appointment as Head of the Department of Chemistry with effect from 1 August 2019, for an initial period of 5 years.
Professor Ces first joined Imperial in 1997 as a PhD student, and obtained his PhD degree in the Department of Chemistry. He then held a postdoctoral fellowship and Research Lectureship in the department before being promoted to Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor between 2010 and 2016.Professor Ces is currently the Director of the Institute of Chemical Biology, the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Chemical Biology, and the Leverhulme Centre for Doctoral Training in Cellular Bionics. He is also the co-Director of the fabriCELL centre, the Imperial College Advanced Hackspace and the Membrane Biophysics Platform. Professor Ces is a member of the Faculty of Natural Sciences Research Committee, the management boards of the Agri-Futures Lab and the Nutrition Food Network, and was previously the director of Development and Theme Coordinator for Chemical Biology & Healthcare at the Department of Chemistry. Through these posts he played a leading role in founding the Invention Rooms and the Agilent Measurement Suite and in developing the vision for the Molecular Sciences Research Hub at the White City Campus.
Professor Ces’ research interests focus on biomembrane engineering, drug-membrane interactions, biomimicry, soft condensed matter, chemical biology, microfluidics, artificial cells, single cell analysis and lipid membrane mechanics. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and winner of the 2017 Rita and John Cornforth Award for research between the chemistry and life sciences disciplines.