Chris is a seasoned professional with over 40 years of experience in drug discovery, development projects, and outsourcing programs, primarily within GlaxoSmithKline and as an independent consultant.
With a chemistry degree from York University in 1973, he began his career as an organic chemist at Glaxo, where he discovered numerous compounds and contributed to significant developments, including fluticasone (Advair/Seretide) and zanamivir (Relenza). As a Technical Director, he led technical teams in manufacturing and contributed to the ISPE “Good Practice Guide: Technology Transfer.”
After his role was made redundant in 2009, Chris dedicated himself to the Royal Society of Chemistry, earning an Exceptional Service Award in 2021.
His interest in particle characterization was sparked by his work in project teams, and he is now eager to contribute further to this field.
Thank you for your interest in particle characterisation, and for getting to this landing page for our PCIG website.
Although our interest group includes experts from many fields, we don’t offer any definition for the term “particle” or advise which techniques are the most important to help with characterisation. We decided against a definition as we didn’t want to limit its scope for anyone with an interest (or create any unnecessary disagreement in the scientific community).
You’ve found us as you probably have a particle you need/want to characterise.
What we do provide is a list of properties of particles and analytical techniques which help with characterisation. Neither list is definitive and we would welcome any additions so that these lists are as comprehensive as possible. We are intending that the topics listed will be hyper-linked to another page with relevant details of the property or method. Again, any additions to these would be welcomed. Check the “Particle Insights” section.
Specifications for materials have typically focussed on chemical purity such as HPLI, HPLA, etc. Physical properties weren’t always included unless there was a compelling reason.
Many industries are starting to define which physical properties ensure good performance in downstream processes, such as formulation. A 1cm3 cube of sugar would have the same chemical properties as a sphere of the same size but altogether different physical properties such as flow. Some particle size methods would measure them as the same, yet a simple optical observation would suffice to suggest a difference. Whilst this is a trite analogy it serves to illustrate the point that choosing the right methods to measure the right properties can be so important.
Chris Williamson, BA, FRSC
Chair PCIG