School of Chemistry

Dr Liam Wilson

  • Research Associate (School of Chemistry)

Biography

Liam is an early-career researcher focused on the development of functional organic molecules for application in biosensing and biological imaging. Liam is a former College of Science and Engineering Research Fellow, supported by the University of Glasgow, and in January 2026 will commence a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship. 

Liam completed his Masters degree in 2016 at the University of St Andrews. During his time there he completed a research project on "The Asymmetric Total Synthesis of the Natural Product Descurainolide A", under the supervision of Prof Nicholas Westwood. In late 2021 Liam earned a PhD from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, where he developed "Small Molecule Probes for Biological Raman Imaging", with Prof Nicholas C. O. Tomkinson. In early 2022, Liam moved to UofG, to work on the development of array based sensors for the diagnosis of liver disease, led by Dr William Peveler.

Research interests

We're interested in designing and synthesizing functional organic molecules which generate a fluorescent signal when they interact with biological molecules like proteins or metabolites. These "molecular machines" can be used to provide insight into biological mechanisms, or to develop new methods of diagnosing disease.

Specific projects include:

  • Using synthetic receptors to detect and differentiate steroidal molecules in human serum, and diagnose severe liver disease.
  • Using chemical amplification to enable ultrasensitive fluorescent detection of disease biomarker proteins.
  • Using functional chimeras to selectively add fluorescent labels to cellular proteins, enabling imaging without prior genetic manipulation.

 

 

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2018
Number of items: 10.

2025

Sperling, J. R. et al. (2025) An integrated plasmonic sensing array for chemical fingerprinting and flavor profiling in beverages and other liquids. ACS Sensors, 10(10), pp. 7936-7946. (doi: 10.1021/acssensors.5c02485) (PMID:41043109) (PMCID:PMC12560130)

2024

Tipping, William J., Wilson, Liam T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-3587, Tomkinson, Nicholas C.O., Faulds, Karen and Graham, Duncan (2024) Label-free screening of drug-induced liver injury using stimulated Raman scattering microscopy and spectral phasor analysis. Analytical Chemistry, 96(26), pp. 10639-10647. (doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.4c01285) (PMID:38889191) (PMCID:PMC11223099)

2023

Murphy, Neville, Tipping, William J., Braddick, Henry J., Wilson, Liam T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-3587, Tomkinson, Nicholas C.O., Faulds, Karen, Graham, Duncan and Farràs, Pau (2023) Expanding the range of bioorthogonal tags for multiplex stimulated Raman scattering microscopy. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 62(48), e202311530. (doi: 10.1002/anie.202311530) (PMID:37821742) (PMCID:PMC10952743)

Braddick, Henry J., Tipping, William, Wilson, Liam T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-3587, Jaconelli, Harry, Grant, Emma K., Faulds, Karen, Graham, Duncan and Tomkinson, Nicholas (2023) Determination of intracellular esterase activity using ratiometric Raman sensing and spectral phasor analysis. Analytical Chemistry, 95(12), pp. 5369-5376. (doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.2c05708) (PMID:3692685) (PMCID:PMC10061367)

Sperling, Justin R. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1708-2474, Savage, Laurie, Wilson, Liam T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-3587, Cuthill, Calum, Mcguire, Katie, Robbie, Jill ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5376-8908, Sloan, William D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9450-7384, Gauchotte-Lindsay, Caroline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4970-5031, Peveler, William J. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9829-2683 and Clark, Alasdair W. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9797-5776 (2023) Optical Tastebuds for Water Quality Testing. In: SPIE BiOS 2023: Optical Fibers and Sensors for Medical Diagnostics, Treatment and Environmental Applications XXIII, San Francisco, CA, USA, 28 Jan - 03 Feb 2023, (doi: 10.1117/12.2647396)

2022

Tipping, William J., Wilson, Liam T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-3587, An, Connie, Leventi, Aristea Anna, Wark, Alastair W., Wetherill, Corinna, Tomkinson, Nicholas C. O., Faulds, Karen and Graham, Duncan (2022) Stimulated Raman scattering microscopy with spectral phasor analysis: applications in assessing drug-cell interactions. Chemical Science, 13(12), pp. 3468-3476. (doi: 10.1039/d1sc06976d) (PMID:35432863) (PMCID:PMC8943890)

2021

Wilson, Liam T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-3587, Tipping, William J., Wetherill, Corinna, Henley, Zoë, Faulds, Karen, Graham, Duncan, Mackay, Simon P. and Tomkinson, Nicholas C. O. (2021) Mitokyne: a ratiometric Raman probe for mitochondrial pH. Analytical Chemistry, 93(37), pp. 12786-12792. (doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.1c03075) (PMID:34505518)

2020

Tipping, William J., Wilson, Liam T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-3587, Blaseio, Sonja K., Tomkinson, Nicholas C. O., Faulds, Karen and Graham, Duncan (2020) Ratiometric sensing of fluoride ions using Raman spectroscopy. Chemical Communications, 56(92), pp. 14463-14466. (doi: 10.1039/D0CC05939K) (PMID:33147301)

Wilson, Liam T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-3587, Tipping, William J., Jamieson, Lauren E., Wetherill, Corinna, Henley, Zoë, Faulds, Karen, Graham, Duncan, Mackay, Simon P. and Tomkinson, Nicholas C. O. (2020) A new class of ratiometric small molecule intracellular pH sensors for Raman microscopy. Analyst, 145(15), pp. 5289-5298. (doi: 10.1039/D0AN00865F) (PMID:32672252)

2018

Stephen Ojo, O. et al. (2018) Synthesis of the natural product descurainolide and cyclic peptides from lignin-derived aromatics. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 16(2), pp. 266-273. (doi: 10.1039/c7ob02697h) (PMID:29242868)

This list was generated on Sun Sep 20 18:32:25 2026 BST.
Jump to: Articles | Conference Proceedings
Number of items: 10.

Articles

Sperling, J. R. et al. (2025) An integrated plasmonic sensing array for chemical fingerprinting and flavor profiling in beverages and other liquids. ACS Sensors, 10(10), pp. 7936-7946. (doi: 10.1021/acssensors.5c02485) (PMID:41043109) (PMCID:PMC12560130)

Tipping, William J., Wilson, Liam T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-3587, Tomkinson, Nicholas C.O., Faulds, Karen and Graham, Duncan (2024) Label-free screening of drug-induced liver injury using stimulated Raman scattering microscopy and spectral phasor analysis. Analytical Chemistry, 96(26), pp. 10639-10647. (doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.4c01285) (PMID:38889191) (PMCID:PMC11223099)

Murphy, Neville, Tipping, William J., Braddick, Henry J., Wilson, Liam T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-3587, Tomkinson, Nicholas C.O., Faulds, Karen, Graham, Duncan and Farràs, Pau (2023) Expanding the range of bioorthogonal tags for multiplex stimulated Raman scattering microscopy. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 62(48), e202311530. (doi: 10.1002/anie.202311530) (PMID:37821742) (PMCID:PMC10952743)

Braddick, Henry J., Tipping, William, Wilson, Liam T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-3587, Jaconelli, Harry, Grant, Emma K., Faulds, Karen, Graham, Duncan and Tomkinson, Nicholas (2023) Determination of intracellular esterase activity using ratiometric Raman sensing and spectral phasor analysis. Analytical Chemistry, 95(12), pp. 5369-5376. (doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.2c05708) (PMID:3692685) (PMCID:PMC10061367)

Tipping, William J., Wilson, Liam T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-3587, An, Connie, Leventi, Aristea Anna, Wark, Alastair W., Wetherill, Corinna, Tomkinson, Nicholas C. O., Faulds, Karen and Graham, Duncan (2022) Stimulated Raman scattering microscopy with spectral phasor analysis: applications in assessing drug-cell interactions. Chemical Science, 13(12), pp. 3468-3476. (doi: 10.1039/d1sc06976d) (PMID:35432863) (PMCID:PMC8943890)

Wilson, Liam T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-3587, Tipping, William J., Wetherill, Corinna, Henley, Zoë, Faulds, Karen, Graham, Duncan, Mackay, Simon P. and Tomkinson, Nicholas C. O. (2021) Mitokyne: a ratiometric Raman probe for mitochondrial pH. Analytical Chemistry, 93(37), pp. 12786-12792. (doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.1c03075) (PMID:34505518)

Tipping, William J., Wilson, Liam T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-3587, Blaseio, Sonja K., Tomkinson, Nicholas C. O., Faulds, Karen and Graham, Duncan (2020) Ratiometric sensing of fluoride ions using Raman spectroscopy. Chemical Communications, 56(92), pp. 14463-14466. (doi: 10.1039/D0CC05939K) (PMID:33147301)

Wilson, Liam T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-3587, Tipping, William J., Jamieson, Lauren E., Wetherill, Corinna, Henley, Zoë, Faulds, Karen, Graham, Duncan, Mackay, Simon P. and Tomkinson, Nicholas C. O. (2020) A new class of ratiometric small molecule intracellular pH sensors for Raman microscopy. Analyst, 145(15), pp. 5289-5298. (doi: 10.1039/D0AN00865F) (PMID:32672252)

Stephen Ojo, O. et al. (2018) Synthesis of the natural product descurainolide and cyclic peptides from lignin-derived aromatics. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 16(2), pp. 266-273. (doi: 10.1039/c7ob02697h) (PMID:29242868)

Conference Proceedings

Sperling, Justin R. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1708-2474, Savage, Laurie, Wilson, Liam T. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7005-3587, Cuthill, Calum, Mcguire, Katie, Robbie, Jill ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5376-8908, Sloan, William D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9450-7384, Gauchotte-Lindsay, Caroline ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4970-5031, Peveler, William J. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9829-2683 and Clark, Alasdair W. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9797-5776 (2023) Optical Tastebuds for Water Quality Testing. In: SPIE BiOS 2023: Optical Fibers and Sensors for Medical Diagnostics, Treatment and Environmental Applications XXIII, San Francisco, CA, USA, 28 Jan - 03 Feb 2023, (doi: 10.1117/12.2647396)

This list was generated on Sun Sep 20 18:32:25 2026 BST.

Research datasets

Jump to: 2026
Number of items: 1.

2026

Sperling, J. , Osborne, D., Aekbote, B. , Perri, A., Setford, R., Gao, H., Wilson, L. , Sipperley, C., Schick, R., Gauchotte-Lindsay, C. , Peveler, W. and Clark, A. (2026) An Integrated Plasmonic Sensing Array for Chemical Fingerprinting and Flavour Profiling in Beverages and Other Liquids. [Data Collection]

This list was generated on Sun Sep 20 23:48:23 2026 BST.

Staff photo for Dr Liam Wilson