University College London

Solid State Chemist, Chemistry

Thesis Title: Experimental solid form screening, X-ray characterisation and computational crystal structure prediction of organic salts

About

Welcome to my profile. My name is Sharmarke Mohamed. I am a chemist by training and I did my undergraduate and postgraduate training at the chemistry department of UCL. My doctoral research has been in the field of solid state chemistry.  For my PhD, I have studied the crystallisation behaviour of organic salts using a combined computational and experimental approach.  My research work has been pioneering because my thesis was one of the first to extend existing computing methods to the prediction of salt crystal structures.  The application of this research is that it will aid the industrial drug discovery process by using the results of the predictions to help target drug solid forms with optimal physical properties.  This is possible because the crystal structure determines many important physical properties in the solid state such as the density, morphology and stability in moisture rich atmospheres.  I have developed technical expertise in a variety of experimental characterisation methods.  These include single crystal X-ray crystallography, IR spectroscopy and thermal methods such as DSC/TG.  To date, I have solved the crystal structures of dozens of compounds of varying complexity. I am also an expert in computational modelling using a combination of electronic structure and force field methods. I have a sound understanding of the thermodynamics of crystal growth. As a consequence of my computational training, I have extensive training in writing scripts using UNIX and have good understanding of a range of electronic structure codes, including GAUSSIAN. 

When I am not doing science, I teach students in my spare time helping them to see the relevance of science in their everyday lives.  I am also an active member of my local community. In the past I have given talks in sixth form colleges and have also appeared on TV championing various causes. These range from the importance of scientific education to speaking out against the recent proposal to increase university tuition fees in the UK.

I am interested in opportunities for collaboration.

Contact Information