Professor Carl Schwalbe's inaugural lecture

Better drugs through crystal-gazing

Tuesday 11th May at 6:30pm 

Crystals are important to the pharmaceutical sciences in two ways.
 

(1) If we wish to determine the structure of a molecule, a crystal acts as a clamp holding many identical molecules, thus allowing their structure to be probed with X-rays. 

(2) Solid dosage forms such as tablets and capsules usually contain crystals. Results in which knowledge of molecular structure leads to an improved understanding of drug action will be presented, covering a range from novel agents against tuberculosis to biomolecules that safely enclose the essential but dangerous nutrient iron (III).

Two outstanding discoveries in which the speaker participated will be featured: the structure of boron hydrides by the Lipscomb Group (Nobel Prize 1976) and the discovery of temozolomide by the Stevens Group (sales exceeding $1 billion last year). 

The lecture will conclude by relating the underlying crystal structure to the ease of compressing a drug into a solid dosage form and the solubility and bioavailability when such a dose is ingested.

This lecture is free to attend and open to all.