Professor Dame Carol Robinson
Research Group
Welcome to the Robinson Research Group webpages.
Our laboratories are located in the Chemistry Department at the University of Oxford and our research is focussed on understanding protein interactions in the gas phase.
To carry out this research we have adapted mass spectrometry instrumentation and methods to transfer protein complexes with as little perturbation as possible as they transition from solution to the gas phase.
We focussed first on soluble proteins and more recently on membrane embedded assemblies trying to recreate their native environments as closely as possible.
Image
A photograph of Dr Corinne Lutomski using the Orbitrap Eclipse, mass spectrometer.
About Carol
Carol Robinson holds the Chair of Dr. Lee's Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford. She is Co-founder and Director of OMass Therapeutics and Director of the Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery.
Research
From our first experiments in 1993, in which we investigated protein folded pathways, through to our most recent investigations of membrane protein-lipid interactions, mass spectrometry has played a central role.
News
Congratulations!
Congratulations to our Lab Manager Parisa Yavari for successfully completing the Herschel Programme for Women in Technical Leadership — a national, six-month initiative designed to support women in technical roles to step into and thrive in leadership positions.
Congratulations!
Congrats to our Part II students, Frances and Angela, who have both performed exceptionally well in this year's final exams. Frances has been awarded the first prize, and Angela the second prize. Congratulations to both of them on these fantastic achievements!
A big thanks also goes to their supervisors, Corinne, Di, and Phil, as well as to everyone who has contributed to creating this supportive environment.
Welcome!
A warm welcome to Kiran Bountra who joined the Group in August 2024 as a Postdoctoral Research Associate.
Welcome!
A warm welcome to Mark Selwood, our new Laboratory Technician, who joined the team on 8 January.
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Carol Robinson for being elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society (APS) for 2023.
Welcome!
A warm welcome to Parisa Yavari, our new Laboratory Manager, who joined the team during the first week of January.
Congratulations
Congratulations to Xingyu Qiu from the Robinson Lab on defending his thesis and thanks to Frank Sobott and Jani Bolla for being the examiners.
Welcome!
A warm welcome to Hannah Britt who joined the Group at the start of August.
Congratulations!
Congratulations to the Robinson labs for being awarded a LEAF Silver award this week!
Welcome!
A warm welcome to Linda Webb who joined the team as Carol's new Executive Assistant on 13 June 2022.
Welcome!
A warm welcome to Haigang Song who joined the Group in June 2022.
Welcome!
A warm welcome to Neha Kalmankar who joined the Group in April 2022.
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Dan for successfully defending his DPhil thesis. We wish you all the best.
Welcome!
A warm welcome to Susanne Mesoy and Maya Miller who joined the Robinson Group team in January 2022. We look forward to working with you.
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Josh Sauer for successfully defending his DPhil thesis. We wish him all the best for the future.
Dr. Leonhard Urner selected for 5 year research programme.
We are delighted to announce that Dr Leonhard Urner is one of six researchers selected by the State of Nordrhein-Westfalen to receive a 5 year programme grant to further his research into the mechanisms of antibiotic resistance. The names of the six selected scientists were released at the end of July.
Congratulations!
Our warmest congratulations to Dr Jani Reddy Bolla, who has been awarded the prestigious Royal Society, University Research Fellowship (URF). Click on the image for more information.
Interview
Husband and Wife team Corinne Lutomski and Tarick El-Baba talk about their research in developing methods to inhibit the Covid 19 virus using mass spectrometry. Click on the image to see page 12-14 of the Periodic magazine.
Presenation
Leonhard Urner presented his work on 'Tailoring detergents for membrane protein research' at the BMSS Virtual Biomacromolecular SIG meeting on 24 March. Click on the image to see the details.
Congratulations!
Warmest congratulations to Denis Shutin who successfully defended his DPhil in January 2021.
Congratulations!
Very many congratulations to Fabian Soltermann who successfully defended his DPhil. We wish him every success in the future.
Congratulations!
Congratulations to Leonhard Urner who won second prize in the SEPAWA Innovation Award 2020 for 'Designer Detergents for Medical Research'
Welcome!
A warm welcome to Dinesh Chinthapalli who joined the Group in November 2020 on a Newton Trust Fellowship.
Videos
Prize Lectures
2023-2025
- 2025 – The Twenty-Fifth Irving L. Schwartz Lectureship, Icahn School of Medicine, USA
- 2024 – The William R. Veatch Endowed Lecture, Harvard Medical School, USA
- 2023 – John B. Fenn ASMS Award Lecture, Houston, Texas, USA
- 2023 – A. I. Scott Medal Award Lecture, Houston, Texas, USA
2021 - 2022
- 2022 – Jordan Translational Medicine Lecture, Oxford, UK
- 2022 – Louis-Jeantet Award Lecture, Geneva, Switzerland
- 2022 – European Chemistry Gold Medal Award, Portugal
- 2022 – McConnell Lecture, Stanford University and Caltech, USA
- 2021 – Michael Smith Distinguished Research Lecture, Canada
- 2021 – The Redfearn Memorial Lecture, University of Leicester, UK
- 2021 – The Jones Lecture, Queen's University, Ontario, Canada
- 2021 – The Hinshelwood Lectures, University of Oxford, UK
2019 - 2020
- 2020 – Distinguished Bashour Lecture, UT South Western, USA
- 2019 – Rayson Huang Visiting Lectureship, Hong Kong
- 2019 – Annual Biophysical Society Lecturer, Baltimore, US
2018
- 2018 – Joe L Franklin Memorial Lecture, RICE, Houston, USA
- 2018 – Webster Lecture, Case Western Reserve University
- 2018 – Dame Anne McLaren Lecture, UCL
- 2018 – Lee Seng Tee Distinguished Lecture, University of Cambridge
- 2018 – The Cynthia Ann Chan Lecture, University of California, Berkeley
- 2018 – The Mabel Fitzgerald Lecture, University of Oxford
- 2018 – The Inaugural Annual David James Lecture, University of Cambridge
2017
- 2017 – The Peter Garland Lecture, Dundee
- 2017 – The Fritz Lipmann Lecture, GBM Fall Conference
- 2017 – The Hans Krebs Lecture, FEBS
- 2017 – Baddiley Lecture, Newcastle
- 2017 – The Frederick Soddy Lecture, Merton College, Oxford
2016
- 2016 – AstraZeneca Medal Award Lecture, Biochemistry Society
- 2016 – The Harry G. Day Lecture, University of Indiana
- 2016 – The Torbern Bergman Award Lecture, Umea
- 2016 – The Chemistry Anniversary Lecture, University of York
- 2016 – The Royal Institution Discourse, London
2015
- 2015 – The Havinga Medal Lecture, Leiden
- 2015 – The Irving O Shoichet Lecture, Toronto
- 2015 – Rodney Porter Lecture, Oxford
- 2015 – L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Award Lecture, Paris
- 2015 – The Hobart H. Willard Memorial Lecture, University of Michigan
2014
- 2014 – Kaj Linderstrøm-Lang Award Lecture, Copenhagen
- 2014 – The Daniell Lecture, King's College London
- 2014 – Evans Award Lecture, Ohio State
- 2014 – Cornforth Lecture, University of Sussex
- 2014 – Thomson Medal Award Lecture, Geneva
- 2014 – The Birch Lecture, ANU
- 2014 – Ruth and Eddie Hughes Lecture, Caltech
- 2014 – Dorothy Hodgkin Memorial Lecture, Oxford
- 2014 – The Burger Lecture, University of Virginia
2012 - 2013
- 2013 – The Krebs Lecture, University of Sheffield
- 2013 – Anatrace Membrane Protein Award Lecture, Philadelphia
- 2013 – The Medawar Lecture, MRC Mill Hill
- 2013 – The Clapp Lectures, Brown University
- 2012 – The Randall Lecture, King's College London
- 2012 – The Dewar Lecture, Queen Mary
- 2012 – The DeLuca Lecture, UC San Diego
- 2012 – The Carlson Lecture, Johns Hopkins
- 2012 – Alex Hopkins Memorial Lecture, Cambridge
2010 - 2011
- 2011 – Van't Hoff Award Lecture, Royal Academy of Dutch Scientists
- 2011 – Sarkar Lecture, Toronto
- 2010 – Maud Menten Lecture, Western Ontario
- 2010 – Maurice Wilkins Lecture, Auckland