Chemical Society Seminar: Dr. Michael Ward - Stopping Crystal Growth in its Tracks: Pathways to Therapies for Pathological Crystallization
The crystal growth of conventional聽materials like聽silicon has been refined for decades and has led to textbook crystal聽growth聽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.聽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 鈥渪enostones鈥 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.