Group |
Staff |
Professor Judith A. K. Howard CBE FRS |
|
Group leader and chairperson of OlexSys, with wide ranging research
interests in the field of small molecule crystallography using both X-rays and neutrons. I have been involved in
pushing the boundaries of the subject whether in the methodology, instrument development, dealing with difficult to
handle materials or solving problematic structures. |
j.a.k.howard@durham.ac.uk
Staff page |
Dr Andrei S. Batsanov |
|
Senior Experimental Officer carrying out service crystal structure determinations.
Research interests include intermolecular interactions, crystal packing, polymorphism and phase transitions of molecular crystals; structural effects
on electric, magnetic and optical properties or organic and organometallic solids; transition-metal carboxylate clusters with O- and F-bridges. |
| a.s.batsanov@durham.ac.uk |
Dr Olga Chetina |
|
Research Associate examining structural studies of
polymorphism in pharmaceuticals. My expertise is growing single crystals of small molecular substances, mostly pharmaceutical compounds,
including polymorphs, pseudo polymorphs (hydrates and/or solvates) as well as co-crystals and small peptides, using micro scale methods
of solution crystallisation and hot-stage microscopy studies. |
| olga.chetina@durham.ac.uk |
Dr Oleg Dolomanov |
|
Research Associate working on the Small Molecule Toolbox (smtbx), part of the Crystallographic Computing
Toolbox (cctbx) and Olex2. |
| oleg@olexsys.org |
Dr Mauricio Fuentealba |
|
I am a BecasChile Postdoctoral Research Fellow.
My current research interests are structural studies of spin-crossover iron(II) complexes under different experimental
conditions using X-ray diffraction techniques. I am also interested in the syntheses of hydrogen bonding networks
using organometallic sandwich complexes.
|
| m.d.fuentealba@durham.ac.uk |
Dr Michael R. Probert |
|
I am a Research Associate developing new experimental instrumentation. I am currently
heading the development of the XIPHOS ultra-low temperature facility along with expanding the high pressure diffraction capabilities in the group. My main
research focuses on the study of molecular systems under extreme conditions, ranging from simple organic compounds that exist as liquids under ambient conditions,
to complex layered systems that undergo novel electronic and magnetic phase changes upon cooling or pressurising. I also have a strong interest in the study of
high resolution diffraction data for use in 'charge density' analyses, in particular when applied to API's. |
| m.r.probert@durham.ac.uk |
Dr Horst Puschmann |
|
Research Associate and co-PI on the EPSRC grant commonly
known as 'Age Concern'. Our work is based around the fact that almost all existing crystallographic software is relatively
ancient and can not be maintained neither by their originators (many of which are nearing retirement) nor meaningfully by anybody
else, for lack of original documentation and, more importantly, the inherent limitations of software that was conceived in a very
different world of available hardware and software technologies.
It is our aim to implement a large body of essential crystallographic software in a modern, maintainable, re-usable and shared
development environment. We endeavour to do this in collaboration with as many interested parties as possible. The project is open
source and we are distributing pre-compiled executables for all platforms free of charge.
The most visible part of our project is the Olex2 Software, which provides a user interface to the results of our work. It is also
increasingly becoming very useful as a tool for working with small-molecule crystal structures for researchers of all levels of
crystallographic expertise. |
| horst@olexsys.org |
Dr Hazel A. Sparkes |
|
Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow researching solid-state phenomena including photo-induced
solid-state [2+2] cycloaddition reactions, thermochromism and photochromism. I also carry out charge density studies into the bonding and atomic interactions
in both organic small molecules and organometallic complexes. In addition, I am involved in some undergraduate teaching.
I am currently the chair (2011-2013) of the Chemical Crystallography Group of the British Crystallographic Association and was awarded the 2009 CCDC Chemical
Crystallography prize for Younger Scientists. |
| h.a.sparkes@durham.ac.uk |
Dr Dmitry S. Yufit |
|
Senior Experimental Officer, involved in the maintenance of
the laboratory equipment and the day-to-day running of the departmental crystallography service. My own research interests
include the in-situ crystallization of liquids under ambient conditions as well as structural studies of intermolecular
interactions and polymorphism in low-melting molecular complexes. |
| d.s.yufit@durham.ac.uk |
PhD Students |
Mr Jonathan A. Coome |
|
PhD student, working with the XIPHOS ultra-low temperture
system to investigate phase change materials at low temperature and high pressure. In addition to this I write various programs
to help run the instrumentation and also investigate the potential of new programming languages for writing
crystallographic programming, for example to take advantage of modern parallel processors. |
| jonathan.coome@durham.ac.uk |
Miss Helen E. Mason |
| h.e.mason@durham.ac.uk
|
PhD student looking at solid-state phenomena such
as thermochromism and photochromism using single crystal X-ray diffraction, diffuse reflectance and Raman spectroscopy. |
Mr Joe Ridout |
|
PhD student: I am looking to investigate simple
aromatic compounds at extreme conditions (low temperature and/or high pressures) using the XIPHOS facilities in Durham.
This is in order to probe the nature of intermolecular forces (the hydrogen bond, pi-pi stacking forces and interhalogen
bonding) and thus to gain a deeper understanding of packing in crystals, particularly those of supra-molecular compounds.
|
| joe.ridout@durham.ac.uk |
