Winner: 2020 Chemistry World Entrepreneur of the Year
Professor Daryl Williams
Imperial College London and Surface Measurement Systems Limited
For the pioneering invention of the dynamic vapour sorption instrument, which has transformed research laboratory practise worldwide.
In the world we live in, we are surrounded by water, including water in the air we breathe. 鈥榃ater vapour in air鈥� is what is known as humidity. Because water is a very reactive molecule, this humidity affects many of the solid materials we live with. Water, as well as being essential to sustain life, can have a surprising effect on solid materials including foods, plastics and pharmaceuticals. Ever notice what happens when you leave a bag of crisps open for a couple of days, or leave the top off your instant coffee jar? Those materials lose some of their appeal 鈥� the crisps become less crispy, and the coffee granules can become wet and sticky. They change their physical properties and no longer perform as well as they are designed to do. Many materials are negatively impacted on by humidity.
This impact can become much more serious in the case of the tablets and pills you get from the pharmacy. Moisture can affect the shelf life and performance of medications. To eliminate these risks, researchers need to know what humidity will do to tablets and pills. All new tablets and pills that are developed must be tested for their moisture sensitivity. Twenty years ago, Professor Daryl Williams at London-based Surface Measurement Systems invented a new scientific instrument to do this specific measurement of moisture sensitivity of drug powders, tablets and pills. This new instrument was called a Dynamic Vapour Sorption instrument (DVS) and is now used by every pharmaceutical company in the world. The DVS tests every new drug powder, tablet and pill that is developed. This instrument is 20 times quicker and 20 times more accurate than its predecessors, making it an important tool to accelerate the development of new medicines, which in turn make the world a healthier place.
Biography
Professor Daryl R. Williams graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Physical Chemistry from the University of Melbourne, Australia and an MSc in Polymer Science from Lehigh University, USA before coming to Imperial College London to complete his PhD. He is the founder and Managing Director of Surface Measurement Systems and is the Professor of Particle Science at Imperial College.
He has published more than 100 papers in refereed journals and been granted five international patents. His research interests include the surface, solution and bulk characterisation of complex organic solids, including especially biopharmaceutics, foods, pharmaceuticals and polymers, as well as their related manufacture. The Surface and Particle Engineering Laboratory at Imperial College he leads has four Postdoctoral research fellows and eleven PhD students.
Surface Measurement Systems (SMS) is the technological market leader of scientific instruments for vapour sorption characterisation of solid state materials, with offices in the UK, USA and India. The Dynamic Vapour Sorption (DVS) instrument invented by Professor Williams, and commercialised by SMS, allows water sorption isotherms for solids to be obtained 20 times faster, using 20 times less sample and 20 times more accurately than traditional measurement approaches. Pharmaceutical solid state stability testing, formulation development and polymorph screening studies can be significantly accelerated and performed more accurately. DVS is the standard method used by the world鈥檚 20 largest pharmaceutical companies, as well as more than 1,000 research laboratories in more than 25 countries.
Professor Williams鈥檚 work has been recognised by Imperial College鈥檚 President鈥檚 Medal in 2017, the EEF鈥檚 Future Manufacturing Award in Innovation for 2018 and the Institution of Chemical Engineers鈥� Geldart Medal in 2018/19.
We have a duty to build a better world and society, and chemists can play a key role in that opportunity.
Professor Daryl Williams
Q&A with Professor Daryl Williams
How did you first become interested in chemistry?
I recall my chemistry teacher from high school, Mr Thomson, who encouraged and inspired me to do chemistry. He wrote to my parents 鈥淒aryl threatens to be competent at chemistry!鈥� I am hoping one day to achieve that goal.
Who or what has inspired you?
My first undergraduate university research supervisor told me when I was about 20 that he wanted me to become a world leading expert in measuring the surface tension of surfactant solutions. Did he really mean that? Professor Healy鈥檚 comments at the time took me, as a very junior researcher, a bit by surprise, and it took me a little time to fully appreciate that this was a real expectation, and that it was an achievable goal for me. This inspired me to pursue my research interests and recognise that I had a talent for scientific instrumentation.
What motivates you?
I am a great believer in the critical value of good experimental chemistry and science, and the importance of doing the right experiment, especially when the tool for doing the right experiment does not always exist. It is a common limitation of scientific endeavour and advancement that the experimental tools we have at our disposal can constrain us from performing the best chemistry or science. I am strongly motivated to invent these new scientific research tools, whether they operate under 鈥渞eal world鈥� experimental conditions, or simply avoid complex data analysis or theories, but allow us to directly obtain critical experimental insights into material behaviour and properties.
What is something you are looking forward to?
I am looking forward to having an environment where more young graduates in science and engineering see entrepreneurship as a serious career option post university. Certainly when I graduated in chemistry I was very interested in business, but could find no way of combining that with chemistry. I must confess to feeling very frustrated to see many talented young graduates these days simply aspiring to work in banks and management consultancy. As important careers as these can be, I feel many graduates are professionally selling themselves short, but we as the chemical industry and commercial world must do much more to make the transition from a university degree into an entrepreneurship career both easier and more desirable. There are currently both financial and cultural barriers to this objective.
What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry?
Think more broadly about how important chemistry is in the real world, and see commercialisation of chemical ideas and innovations as an effective route to have an impact on society. We have a duty to build a better world and society, and chemists can play a key role in that opportunity.