Mat Todd was born in Manchester, England. He obtained his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Cambridge University in 1999, was a Wellcome Trust postdoc at the University of California, Berkeley, a college fellow back at Cambridge University, a lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London and since 2005 has been at the School of Chemistry, the University of Sydney.
His research interests include the development of new ways to make molecules, particularly how to make chiral molecules with new catalysts. He is also interested in making metal complexes that do unusual things when they meet biological molecules or metal ions. His lab motto is “To make the right molecule in the right place at the right time,” and his students are currently trying to work out what this means.
He has a significant interest in open science, and how it may be used to accelerate research, with particular emphasis on open source discovery of drugs and catalysts. He is Chair of The Synaptic Leap, a nonprofit dedicated to open biomedical research. In 2011 he was awarded a New South Wales Scientist of the Year award in the Emerging Research category for his work in open science. He is on the Editorial Boards of PLOS ONE, Chemistry Central Journal and ChemistryOpen.
