Watching Chemistry Happen
People
Scientific Minds
Dr Lauren Hatcher
Principle Investigator
Dr Lauren E. Hatcher is a Royal Society University Research Fellow (Mar 2020 – present) in the School of Chemistry at Cardiff University. Prior to this she worked as a Research Associate in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Bath (RA in Crystallisation Science for Manufacturing (CMAC), Jan 2018 – Jan 2020; RA in the Metastable Materials Research Group, Jan 2014 – Jan 2018). Lauren completed her PhD in Chemistry at the University of Bath in May 2014, under the supervision of Prof. Paul Raithby (Thesis title: Molecular Photocrystallography). She also completed her undergraduate studies at Bath in 2010 (1:1 BSc(Hons) in Natural Sciences with Industrial Placement) and as part of this course spent one year as an Industrial Placement Student in the Small Molecule Crystallography Group at GlaxoSmithKline Services, Harlow.
Dr Ben Coulson
PDRA
Dr Ben A Coulson has been a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Cardiff University since August 2021. His research currently focussed on the synthesis and analysis of novel inorganic compounds and metal-organic frameworks. He has previously worked at the University of York as a PDRA in the Physics and Chemistry Departments (2018-2021) working with Dr Andrew Pratt. He completed his PhD in Chemistry working under Dr Richard Douthwaite in 2018.
Sam Lewis
PhD Student
Sam joined the Hatcher group as a PhD student in August 2022 to undertake a project entitled 'Advanced Microcrystallisation Techniques for Serial Crystallography' in partnership with Diamond Light Source. Prior to this, Sam studied an undergraduate master's degree at Loughborough University in Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry (2017-2022, (1:1) MChem Hons. with Industrial Studies). His masters project sought to explore the secondary interactions of a series of Pt(II) complexes for molecular tweezer applications, under the supervision of Dr. Mark Elsegood and Dr. Martin Smith. In addition to this, Sam undertook a placement at RSK environmental Limited and a RSC funded summer research project investigating the potential of previously unculturable soil bacteria for antimicrobial activity. In addition to all things crystals, Sam is interested in scientific outreach, coding, and electronics.
