Benjamin Tayler-Barrett

Biography

Having spent the best part of a decade in various customer service, sales and team leadership positions, across retail, hospitality and telecommunications, Ben made the decision to return education, reading for a degree in Biochemistry at the University of Leeds.
After graduation, he spent a year working in the analytical side of FMCG for the two leading home and personal care businesses.

PhD: Impact of surfactant/surface interactions on formulation stability and performance

Much work has been done on the mechanisms of surfactant adsorption to inorganic compounds. Very little work has been done on the molecular basis of these interactions, and almost no work has been on this with respect to organic systems. A major reason for this is that techniques with sufficient surface sensitivity, on the order of ?5 nm, have not been available to researchers. Recent advances in the use of solution XAS techniques and near-ambient pressure XAS and XPS techniques can theoretically be used to probe these organic systems.
The tailoring of formulations by design would benefit from a detailed fundamental understanding of the relationship between molecular level properties and the performance of API physical forms, including interfacial interactions with excipients.
This project uses soft x-ray (<2 keV) spectroscopies, to probe surfactant adsorption to organic crystal surfaces under both ultra-high vacuum (UHV) and near-ambient pressure conditions (NAP).

Outreach, training and other activities:

• Beamtime - HZB - BESSY II: Oct 2016 & Apr 2017; Diamond Light Source: Oct 2017 & Sept 2018; BNL - NSLS II: Nov 2017
• Chair of Staff/Student Forum - 2015/2016 Academic Year
• Be Curious March 2017 (annual University of Leeds science public engagement fair)

Publications and presentations:

• CMAC Open Day 2017 - 3rd Place poster prize
• ChemEng Day 2018 - Oral Flash presentation

Masters research project in year 1 of CDT:

• ‘Investigations into the rheological properties of carboxymethyl cellulose solutions in formulated products’ with Dr Olivier Cayre, Chemical & Process Engineering.