Images of Research: Innovation for the global good

Twisted habit of pharmaceutical crystals

Category: Healthy perspectives

A colourful microscope image showing twisting crystals of the drug oxcarbazepine

This image shows twisted crystals of polymorphic form III of oxcarbazepine, a commercially available pharmaceutical drug used to treat epileptic seizures. Pharmaceutical polymorphism is the ability of drugs to exist in multiple crystalline forms that often exhibit different physical and chemical properties. Our research at Strathclyde aims to develop new approaches for controlling polymorphism, thus ensuring that medicines are always administered in the most suitable form for treating patients.

Entrant: Hector Polyzois , Strathclyde Institute for Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences

Copyright: Hector Polyzois

Funding: NPL-linked studentship, Strathclyde

Collaborators: Dr Deborah Bowering, Eleonora Paladino