Lea grew up near the city of Münster, Germany, before moving to the UK for her M.Sci in Natural Sciences at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ, which she completed in 2023. Her Bachelor’s project in the group of Prof Paul Roach focused on the development of photocleavable self-assembled monolayers controlling cell attachment to surfaces, while her Master’s project in the group of Prof Roach in collaboration with Dr Marc Kimber was based around synthesising and testing a novel Tröger’s base analogue for the treatment of Glioblastoma Multiforme. Lea also completed an internship in the R&D department of Reckitt during her degree, working on their market-leading “Finish” dishwashing detergents. She started her PhD in the Butler group in October 2023.
Lea's research focuses on the development of lanthanide-based luminescent probes capable of selectively detecting phosphate in aqueous environments as part of the EcoSENSE research cluster.