Michelle Montgomery

Michelle is part of the Chemistry & Materials teams at Carpmaels & Ransford. She has experience in prosecuting a broad range of chemical subject matter including pharmaceuticals, electronic devices, catalysts, polymers, nanomaterials and industrial processes before the European Patent Office.  Michelle has also been involved in the prosecution and management of large SPC portfolios.

Michelle Joined Carpmaels & Ransford in 2019.  She has a first class degree in chemistry from Heriot Watt University and a PhD in organometallic chemistry from the University of Bristol. During her PhD she was awarded with an industrial sponsorship enabling her to work within the research labs of a large, multinational pharmaceutical company.  She was also awarded a research fellowship from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science which involved spending three months conducting research at the University of Kyoto in Japan.

Michelle’s PhD research was directed towards palladium catalysed reactions involving the regiospecific activation of carbon-hydrogen bonds thereby removing the need for several intermediary steps during synthesis.  This led the development of new catalytic reactions for the synthesis of small molecule drug candidates and polymers as well as the isolation and characterisation of several interesting novel palladacycles.  In order to understand the reaction pathway in detail Michelle performed several mechanistic studies, which involved the use of computational chemistry.  During the course of her research she published several papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Outside of the office Michelle enjoys running and all things food and wine related.  She is also an avid rugby fan and loves supporting her national team with daring and often vocal optimism.