Dr Louise Male’s main role in the School is to run the single crystal X-ray diffraction service. Single crystal X-ray crystallography is a powerful technique that is used to determine the structure of crystalline solids at the atomic level. It is widely used for compound identification, but the results are also essential in research based on the analysis of solid-state structure.
Dr Male also assists in the upkeep and maintenance of the School’s powder X-ray diffraction diffractometers and acts as the point of contact for both the single crystal and powder crystallography activities in the School.
Dr Male qualified with a MSci / BA (Hons) in Natural Sciences from University of Cambridge in 1999. She went on to study for an MSc in Spectroscopic and Physical Methods of Chemical Analysis at the University of East Anglia and then a PhD in Chemical Crystallography with Professor Paul Raithby at the University of Bath.
From 2004 to 2006 she worked as a postdoctoral researcher for Professor Alberto Albinati at the University of Milan as part of the European Research Training Network HYDROCHEM. Then from 2006 until 2008 she worked as a postdoctoral research assistant for the UK National Crystallography Service at the University of Southampton. She has held her current position since August 2008.