Helen is a PhD student supervised by Prof. Paul Midgley. She primarily specialises in two electron diffraction techniques: three-dimensional electron diffraction (3D-ED) and scanning electron diffraction (SED). Both techniques are based on the acquisition of a series of two-dimensional diffraction patterns which encode information such as crystalline structure and orientation. Helen focuses on the application of these techniques to pharmaceutical material for the purposes of structure solution of small organic molecules and to understand nanoscale relationships at play in pharmaceutical products.
This research is key to increasing the feasibility of more widespread adoption of electron diffraction as a technique for crystallographic and microstructural investigation of active pharmaceutical ingredients.