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Event

Chemical Society Seminar: Dr. Michael Ward - Stopping Crystal Growth in its Tracks: Pathways to Therapies for Pathological Crystallization

Tuesday, September 20, 2016 13:00to14:30
Maass Chemistry Building Room 10, 801 rue Sherbrooke Ouest, Montreal, QC, H3A 0B8, CA

The crystal growth of conventional materials like silicon has been refined for decades and has led to textbook crystal growth models. Confidence in these models quickly evaporates when considering complex inorganic solids and molecular crystals, however, despite the importance of these materials to technology, biology, and human health. In particular, many crystalline materials are associated with diseases, from malaria to kidney stones. This presentation will illustrate the beauty and complexity of crystal growth, through mechanisms often hidden and deceptive, in pathological molecular crystals, including kidney stones as well as “xenostones” that form as a consequence of active pharmaceutical ingredients that form crystals in renal spaces. Armed with an understanding of some crystal physics and crystal surface structure at the molecular level, crystal growth inhibitors can be designed that bind to specific crystal sites and prevent the formation of pathological crystals, suggesting a pathway to therapies for crystal-based diseases in general. These observations also reveal the complexity of dissymmetric surfaces of organic crystals, which stems from their inherent low molecular and crystal symmetry.

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