Rex C Handford 21st International Conference on Biological Inorganic Chemistry 2025

Rex C Handford

Originally from Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, I studied chemistry as an undergraduate at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver. Under the tutelage of Prof. Peter Legzdins, I fell in love with inorganic and organometallic synthesis. I pursued graduate studies with Prof. T. Don Tilley at UC Berkeley, developing new methods to access molecular complexes possessing "bare" silicon atoms, which resemble catalytically-active metal-silicon phases. ​As a postdoctoral fellow, I examined the behavior and reactivity of mixed-metal clusters with Prof. Theodore Betley at Harvard University, characterizing the effect of metal-metal cooperativity in polynuclear active sites. In Summer of 2025, I began my independent career as an assistant professor within the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine. This lab will focus on designing expanded inorganic molecules that capture the reactive elements of metal-metal and metal-element bonds found in heterogeneous catalysts and bioinorganic active sites. If you are interested in joining a dynamic new lab and vigorously pursuing fun, new directions in inorganic synthesis and reactivity, please reach out- I would love to talk to you!