The laboratory’s name is derived in part from its donor; humanitarian, alumnus of Christ’s College, and Chairman and Managing Director of the pharmaceutical company Cipla, Dr Yusuf Hamied. ‘Todd’ refers to Professor Lord Alexander Todd, Nobel Prize-winning chemist and former Master of Christ’s.

Professor Clare P Grey is the first Geoffrey Moorhouse Gibson Professor, and she has also been appointed Director of the Todd-Hamied Laboratory.

Professor Grey’s particular focus among energy materials is on electrodes and electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries and fuel cells. One specific component of Professor Grey’s research is to develop new tools based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) for visualizing how ions are transported through the different materials in real time and to use this information to feed into the design of the next generation of batteries and fuel cells.

Prof. Grey arrived at Cambridge in 2009, having spent 15 years at Stony Brook University (SBU). She received a BA and a D. Phil. in Chemistry from the University of Oxford. In 2011, she was elected to the Royal Society and in the same year received the Royal Society Kavli Lecture and Medal for work relating to the Environment/Energy. She is the Associate Director of the Northeastern Chemical Energy Storage Center, a US Department of Energy Centre based at SBU.

Dr Hamied arrived at Christ’s in 1954 from Bombay and graduating with a First in natural sciences. His company, Cipla Ltd, has played a key role in launching important drugs for the first time in India. These include medicines to fight many diseases, ranging from asthma to cancer to AIDS. He is also a Trustee of The Yusuf and Farida Hamied Foundation, a member of the Department of Chemistry Advisory Board, an Honorary Fellow of Christ’s College and has been a member of the Guild of Cambridge Benefactors since 2007.