Lea grew up near the city of Münster, Germany, before moving to the UK for her M.Sci in Natural Sciences at Loughborough University, 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.