My primary interests lie in physical chemistry and pharmaceuticals and my thesis project is aimed at exploring low-frequency or THz-Raman spectroscopy for the analysis of pharmaceutically relevant chemical systems and other materials.
Low-frequency Raman (LFR) region (<300 cm-1) probes vibrational modes related to long-range order (i.e., crystallinity) that can provide unique information on the solid-state/structural characteristics among other properties. Furthermore, the recent advancements in instrumentation (most notably, narrow wavelength band filters) and data analysis has allowed to overcome some of the previous limitations of this technique. In fact, LFR spectroscopy has now enjoyed a surge in popularity with applications found in many research areas. We have demonstrated the usefulness of this technique to elucidate subtle structural disparities in human teeth, probe solid-state characteristics of amorphous and crystalline drugs, analyse fast processes such as phase transformations as well as monitor solubilization kinetics of drugs in complex dissolution media.
Employment:
2017-2018 Research Assistant (Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, Experimental Synthesis and Technology Group)
2016-2017 Chemist (JSC Olainfarm, R&D Department of Intermediates and APIs)
2015-2016 Visiting Researcher (University of Minnesota, Department of Pharmaceutics, Prof. Ray Suryanarayanan group)
2012-2015 Research Assistant (University of Latvia, Faculty of Chemistry, Laboratory of Molecular Crystals)
Education:
2021 Ph.D. Chemistry – University of Otago
2014 MSc. Chemistry – University of Latvia (with distinction)
2012 BSc. Chemistry – University of Latvia
Selected Publications:
1. Bērziņš, K.; Fraser-Miller, S. J.; Gordon, K. C., Pseudo-3D Subsurface Imaging of Pharmaceutical Solid Dosage Forms Using Micro-spatially Offset Low-Frequency Raman Spectroscopy. Anal. Chem. 2021, 93 (25), 8986–8993.
2. Bērziņš, K.; Fraser-Miller, S. J.; Gordon, K. C., A New Frontier for Nondestructive Spatial Analysis of Solid Dosage Forms: Spatially Offset Low-Frequency Raman Spectroscopy. Anal. Chem. 2021, 93 (8), 3698-3705.
3. Bērziņš, K.; Fraser-Miller, S. J.; Di, R.; Liu, J.; Peltonen, L.; Strachan, C. J.; Rades, T.; Gordon, K. C., Combined Effect of the Preparation Method and Compression on the Physical Stability and Dissolution Behavior of Melt-Quenched Amorphous Celecoxib. Mol. Pharmaceutics 2021, 18 (3), 1408–1418.
4. Bērziņš, K.; Fraser-Miller, S. J.; Gordon, K. C., Recent Advances in Low-Frequency Raman Spectroscopy for Pharmaceutical Applications. Int. J. Pharm. 2021, 120034.
5. Bērziņš, K.; Sutton, J. J.; Fraser-Miller, S. J.; Rades, T.; Korter, T. M.; Gordon, K. C., Solving the Computational Puzzle: Toward a Pragmatic Pathway for Modeling Low-Energy Vibrational Modes of Pharmaceutical Crystals. Cryst. Growth Des. 2020, 20 (10), 6947-6955.
6. Bērziņš, K.; Sales, R. E.; Barnsley, J. E.; Walker, G.; Fraser-Miller, S. J.; Gordon, K. C., Low-Wavenumber Raman Spectral Database of Pharmaceutical Excipients. Vib. Spectrosc. 2020, 107, 103021.
7. Bērziņš, K.; Fraser-Miller, S. J.; Rades, T.; Gordon, K. C., Low-Frequency Raman Spectroscopic Study on Compression-Induced Destabilization in Melt-Quenched Amorphous Celecoxib. Mol. Pharmaceutics 2019, 16 (8), 3678-3686.
8. Bērziņš, K.; Sutton, J. J.; Loch, C.; Beckett, D.; Wheeler, B. J.; Drummond, B. K.; Fraser-Miller, S. J.; Gordon, K. C., Application of low-wavenumber Raman spectroscopy to the analysis of human teeth. J. Raman Spectrosc. 2019, 50 (10), 1375-1387.
