Jennifer Swift, PhD, Professor, Chair, Department of Chemistry, Georgetown University

The Department of Chemistry Presents:  Jennifer Swift, PhD, Professor, Chair, Department of Chemistry, Georgetown University, Vorisek Professor

Many pharmaceuticals can crystallize in hydrate and/or other solvate forms.  While not all solvates have properties suitable for commercial development, they can serve as important precursor phases which, upon process-induced desolvation, yield crystal forms that may not be accessible through conventional growth methods.  Yet predicting the products and mechanistic pathway(s) by which desolvation reactions occur remains a real challenge.  Using a combination of time-resolved synchrotron PXRD and thermogravimetric methods, we will share insight into the mechanisms and molecular-level structural changes associated with the desolvation processes in select systems. 

Research Interests

The Swift lab - where organic, materials, and analytical chemistry intersect. The Swift group is broadly interested in the formation, transformation, and physical properties of crystalline organic materials. Ongoing research focuses on pharmaceutical hydrates and polymorphs, the biomineralization pathways of heterocycles associated with diseases such as gout and kidney stone formation, and nitrogen excretion and/or storage in uricotelic species.

BIO

Jennifer Swift has spent the last 24 years on the faculty at Georgetown University where she is currently Vorisek Professor and the Chair of the Department of Chemistry.  She earned her BA at Bowdoin (pronounced “BO Din”) College, her PhD at Yale University, and did a 2-year postdoc at the University of Minnesota.  Her research group investigates crystallization mechanisms and structure-property relationships in a variety of molecular systems including those related to pharmaceuticals and crystal-deposition diseases such as gout and kidney stones.