Doctor Jerry Heng
Nationality: Malaysia
Year: 2006
Subject Area: Science and Engineering
I received a Wingate Scholarship (Sciences) in 2006, which enabled me to undertake an experimental study investigating the crystallisation of cholesterol, as part of my post-doctoral studies. I have been able to crystallise cholesterol of different crystal shapes (needles and plates) by altering crystallisation conditions; solvent, saturation including seeding. We now need to relate this information to its interfacial properties, which is thought to play a critical role in determining the crystal shape. I would certainly hope that this work open up many new directions, especially in crystallisation of biomolecules for prevention and treatment of diseases. Currently, I have a lectureship at the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London and lead the Surfaces and Particle Engineering Laboratory (SPEL, www.imperial.ac.uk/spel). Our group’s experimental philosophy is to develop an understanding of solid performance and processing from detailed fundamental knowledge of the particle properties