The second important C-SOPS milestone is the successful completion of the third year review of the Center. The NSF Panel Review took place on April 7-9 at the Rutgers Busch Campus. In addition to presentations reviewing Center progress and plans and student poster sessions, the intensive program for the review included closed panel meetings with the Council of Deans, the leadership of the Industrial Advisory Board, the Scientific Advisory Board as well as the Student Leadership Council.  The panel, consisting of eight domain experts plus two NSF staff members, recommended that the Center be approved for renewal subject to the submission of written addenda providing more detailed strategic plans for the two Working Groups and for the Educational Plan. These were submitted and accepted within the allowed time period and consequently the NSF ERC Program leadership has recommended to the Office of the NSF Director that C- SOPS be renewed for a further five years of NSF funding. We are grateful that our progress and ambitious plans for the future have met with the approval of all of our partners and advisors as well as of the NSF Panel and look forward to an exciting and productive five year period.  We would like to thank all of our faculty, students, industry partners, and members of our Science Advisory Board for all of their hard work and guidance, which have allowed us to reach this milestone. 

Recent Events   #top

Announcement of special edition for Steve Byrn

Dear Colleagues,

We are very pleased to let you know that the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences will be having a special issue dedicated to Professor Stephen Byrn. Steve has been a wonderful advisor, mentor, friend and colleague over the years as well as an intellectual giant in the area of solid state chemistry, so this is a fitting tribute. We would like for you to consider submitting a manuscript (review articles, commentaries, research articles) in the area of solid state chemistry for consideration in this special edition.

 

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is Feb 01 2010 for publication in Sep 2010. Manuscript submission is via the normal process for J. Pharm. Sci. (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jpharmsci), however please select the Stephen Byrn issue when asked if the manuscript should be considered for a special issue. The special issue is also described in the June editorial of J. Pharm. Sci.

 

Please help us make this a special tribute to Steve by submitting a contribution.

 

Education Highlights    #top                       EMPOWER.EXPLORE.ENGAGE

Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)

ERC-SOPS has added undergraduates and teachers each year to REU programs distributed across its institutions. Undergraduates have been recruited from schools all over US. This year we have 6 students on the Rutgers University campus (see table below) in the labs from June 29^th – August 7^th. So far over 30 students have participated at the Rutgers University REU alone since 2007, of which over 70 percent have gone on to graduate school. 

Research Experience Teachers (RET)

The NJIT site conducts a Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program each summer. This summer the RET program will run from June 29^th – July 31^st, 2009 with 5 high school teachers. The RET is for high school teachers who teach Chemistry, Physics, Technology, or related subjects and who wish to enrich their curriculum by experiencing state-of-the-art research in technologies and engineering systems based on Pharmaceutical Engineering. 

New Modules added to PharmaHub

1. Pharmaceutical Dissolution Testing Teaching Module    

 Dr. Bo Hu, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Puerto Rico

 2. Introduction to the Rheology of Complex Fluids

     Dr. Aldo Acevedo, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez

Explore with K-12

Partners in Science

ERC-SOPS is now a partner in the Partners in Science program, which provides an intensive, six-week summer experience for high school juniors and seniors. The program pairs students with mentors in science, health and technical fields and challenges them to participate in ongoing research and independent projects. The Partners in Science program gives students the opportunity to investigate questions driving scientific discovery in professional laboratory settings. Additionally, they develop a network of advisors and lifelong connections that may help them identify and focus their career goals. This summer we have 2 female students: Palak Patel from Dickinson High School in Jersey City, NJ, who will be working with Professor Nina Shapely and Ashley Hudson who attends Mother Seton Regional High School in Clark, NJ who will be working in Professor Paul Takhistov’s lab. We are delighted to host these rising high school seniors in the center this summer. 

Visit to Pharmaceutical Engineering Center Facilities at UPRM

On April 1^st, 2009 a group of 12 eighth-grade students and their teacher from Winnie’s Active Learning Kids School, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico visited our Pharmaceutical Engineering Center Facilities and participated in three hands-on interactive modules developed in collaboration with the Science on Wheels (SONW) Center.  The modules include:

1.     Dissolution of a Tablet in Different Solution Media

2.     Compression and Friability Test for tablets

3.     Mixing

The assessment of the activity was excellent.

 

 

 

 

Laboratory for Pharmaceutical Engineering Development and Learning (Update)

In March 2009, the UPRM President signed the contract with Capacete & Martin Associates to start the design of the Laboratory for Pharmaceutical Engineering Development and Learning (L-PEDaL). The design process includes three stages where the first stage is the conceptual of the facilities and the second and third stages aim to establish the physical details such as the metals, the foundation, utilities and others. It is expected we will have the final design by the end of the year. In the next newsletter, we expect to present a rendering of the facilities.

New Grants #top

"Molecular design of nano-structured adsorbents with Improved removal capacity," ARO, to A. Neimark, $450,000 for 3 years.

“Novel Electro-Hydrodynamic Technology for Gas-Liquid Phase Separation in Microgravity,” NASA, to B. Khusid, $298,947 for 2009-2012.

 

ERC Graduates #top

Eddie Davis, (PhD), Rutgers, Epic Systems

Amit Mehotra, (PhD), Rutgers, GlaxoSmithKline

Marcos Llusa, (PhD), Rutgers, ERC Research Associate

 

Patricia Brieva, (PhD) Rutgers, ERC Research Associate

Keirnan LaMarche, (PhD), Rutgers, Bristol Myers Squibb

 

Divya Jonnavitula, (MS), Rutgers, Chicago Iron & Bridge

Lealaf Hailemariam, (PhD), Purdue, Dow Chemical

Pradeep Suresh Babu, (PhD), Purdue, Dow Chemical

Juan Camilo Zapata, (PhD), Purdue, Eli Lilly

Yuhua Chen, (PhD), NJIT, Marlyn Nutraceuticals, Inc.

Daniel Lepek, (PhD), NJIT, Cooper Union

Giuseppe DiBenedetto, (PhD), NJIT, Picatinny

Anagha Bhakay, (MS), NJIT, ERC Research Associate

Ankit H. Patel, (MS), NJIT, Catalent

Luis Obregon, (PhD), (New May 2009), UPRM, ERC Research Associate

Awards and Recognitions   #top

·  A new Dean of the Rutgers School of Engineering, Dr. Thomas Farris, has been appointed. The 

   ERC wished to express a warm welcome and wish good luck to Dr. Farris.

·  The Board of Trustees of Purdue University confirmed the appointment of Professor Elizabeth

   Topp as head of the Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy. She has accepted the

   leadership baton from Professor Steve Byrn who returned to the faculty ranks. Further news can

   be found on http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2009a/090529BOTKildsigchair.html.

·  On August 12, 2009, Professor Muzzio delivered the keynote lecture of the Annual DEM Users

   conference in Edimburgh, Scotland.

·  Professor Taylor was also appointed to the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal, Pharmaceutical

   Development and Technology.

·  Professor Michael Harris was elected Fellow of AICHE and was named a Trustee of the AIChE

   Foundation Board for a two-year term.

·  Earlier this summer, Professor Jim Litster received the 9th International Agglomeration

   Symposium/4^th International Granulation Workshop  Achievement Award.  This award was given

   "In recognition of the outstanding Contribution to the Development of Agglomeration Science".

·  A special plenary session convened in honor of Professor Rex Reklaitis at the annual European

   Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering      conference held June 14-17 in Crakow,

   Poland.

·  Professor Lynne Taylor was appointed University Faculty Scholar for the period 2009-2014, a

   recognition that is awarded to a select group of highly  successful tenured younger faculty who

   are on the “fast track” in teaching and research. The award has associated with it an annual

   discretionary fund  budget. She joins ERC colleagues, Profs Basaran, Beaudoin, Harris, and

   Venkatasubramanian, who also had been so recognized in prior years.

·  Professor Venkat Venkatasubramanian was named recipient of the 2009 Computing in Chemical

   Engineering Award of the Computing & Systems  Technology Division of AIChE. The award

   presentation will take place at the Annual Mtg. of the Institute in November. Professor Venkat  

   Venkatasubramanian was appointed Associate Editor of the journal, Computers & Chemical

   Engineering.

·  PhD student Dave Balachandran, who is working with Professor Beaudoin and also serves on the

   ERC Student Leadership Council, tied for 1st place in    the poster competition at the recent

   IFPRI (International Fine Particle Research Institute) meeting in Ann Arbor.

·  Ezinwa Elele, a doctoral student, took the first-place honor in the graduate division at the NJIT

   Fifth Annual Provost's Student Research Showcase,  2009 for the development together with

   Boris Khusid, his PhD adviser, and Dr. Yueyang Shen of a new method that will allow the production

   of personalized medicines.

·  Patricia Rodríguez presented the poster: Evaluation of Method Precision and Sample Homogeneity

   in Novel Gel Strip Formulation analyzed by NIR  Spectroscopy at the Interphex meeting, that was

   hosted at the Puerto Rico Convention Center on January 29-30, 2009 was awarded the first prize

   in  the Undergraduate Students Category.

·  Kristie Laboy presented the poster: Development of NIR Spectroscopy Method for Drug

   Concentration in a Novel Gel Strip Formulation and  Determination of Drug Content in a Novel Gel

   Strip Formulation at the Excipient Fest-Expo Pharma at the Puerto Rico Convention Center on

   April 22-  23, 2009; awarded second prize in the poster competition that included undergraduate

   and graduate students from several universities.

 

Industrial Liaison's Report #top

New Members

 

We would like to welcome our newest industrial member, Automated Ingredient Systems (AIS), which has joined the Center as a Level 4 member.  AIS combines cutting edge technology with expertise in material handling to provide a single source solution to automate manufacturing processes.  They serve the needs of ~20 different industries including pharma, food, plastics, etc.  You can learn more about them at http://www.ais-kc.com.

June IAB meeting

 

The Center held a very successful Industrial Advisory Board meeting at NJIT on June 4-5.  Over 120 attendees discussed the broad and some of the “nitty-gritty” aspects of our reorganized projects and thrusts, as well as our newly formed sensor and molecular properties working groups.  Those present overwhelmingly supported the changes. Students and post-docs presented 35 posters. Kudos to NJIT for hosting such a fine event, and especially to Lynn Failla for putting it all together.

Thank you to all of our Industry members who were able to participate; we truly appreciate your input and support. You can find the presentations and posters from the meeting in the members only, password protected section of our website under “Reports”.  (http://ercforsops.org).

Preceding the meeting, on June 3, the Center sponsored a one day workshop, New Techniques for Structure Determination of Organic Particulate Systems.  The program was organized by Rodolfo Romañach from UPRM and included presentations on the theory and practice of NIR spectroscopy, NIR chemical imaging, and laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). Speakers included Prof. Romanach, Fernando Muzzio (Rutgers), Janie Dubois (Malvern) and Martine Tourigny (Pharma Laser).  Hands on sessions with the Malvern SyNIRgi and the Pharma Laser PharmaLIBS™250 were included.

 

 

Member Companies #top

New Members

Automated Ingredient Systems (AIS)

 

Level 1

Abbott Laboratories

Bristol Myers Squibb

Boehringer Ingelheim

Eli Lilly

Glaxo Smith Kline

Johnson & Johnson

Pepsico

Pfizer

Schering Plough

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals

 

Level 2

Aztrazeneca Pharmaceuticals

Camp

DEM Solutions

Gericke AG

K-Tron

Itasca

Malvern

Procter & Gamble

Sepracor Inc.

Tunnel Consulting

 

Level 3

Allergan

Catalent Pharma Solutions

Schenk Accurate

 

Level 4

Metropolitan Computing Corp

Pharmalaser

 

 

Presentations and Publications #top

 

Vishnyakov, A., and Neimark, A.V., “Multicomponent Gauge Cell Method,” Journal of Chemical

    Physics, 2009, V.130, 224103.

Neimark, A.V., Lin, Y., Ravikovitch, P.I., and Thommes, M., “Quenched solid density functional theory

    and pore size analysis of micro-mesoporous carbons,” Carbon, 2009, V.47, p.1617-1628. Vercaemst, C., Friedrich, H., de Jongh, P., Neimark, A.V., Goderis, B., Verpoort, F., Van Der Voort, P.,

    “Periodic mesoporous organosilicas consisting of 3D hexagonally ordered interconnected globular

    pores,” Journal Physical Chemistry C, 2009, V. 113, p. 5556-5562.

Miyasaka, K., Neimark, A.V., and Terasaki, O., “Density functional theory of in-situ synchrotron

    powder X-ray diffraction on mesoporous crystals: Argon adsorption on MCM-41,” Journal Physical

    Chemistry C, 2009, V.113, p.791-794.

Neimark, A.V., “Characterization of Porous Materials: from Angstroms to Millimeters", CPM-5 -5th

    International Workshop, New Brunswick, NJ, USA, June 24-26, 2009;

    http://porousmaterials.rutgers.edu.

Ropero, J., Beach, L., Alcalà, M., Rentas, R., Davé, R. N., Romañach, R. J., “Near-infrared

    Spectroscopy for the In-line Characterization of Powder Voiding Part I: Development of the

    Methodology,” submitted to the Journal of Pharmaceutical Innovation on May 20, 2009.

Beach, L., Ropero, J., Mujumdar, A., Alcala, M., Romañach, R., Dave, R. N., “Near-infrared

    Spectroscopy for the In-line Characterization of Powder Voiding Part II: Quantification of

    Enhanced Flow Properties of Surface Modified Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients,” submitted to

    the Journal of Pharmaceutical Innovation on May 20, 2009.

Rodríguez, P., Romanach, R., “Evaluation of Method Precision and Sample Homogeneity Using NIR

    Spectroscopy,” Excipient Fest-Expo Pharma, Puerto Rico Convention Center, April 22-23, 2009.

Rodríguez, P., Romanach, R., “Evaluation of Method Precision and Sample Homogeneity in Novel Gel

    Strip Formulation analyzed by NIR Spectroscopy,” Interphex meeting, Puerto Rico Convention

    Center, January 29-30, 2009.

Laboy, K., Romanach, R., “Development of NIR Spectroscopy Method for Drug Concentration in a

    Novel Gel Strip Formulation and Determination of Drug Content in a Novel Gel Strip Formulation,”

    Excipient Fest-Expo Pharma, PR Convention Center, April 22-23, 2009.

León-Ricardo, J., Romañach, R. J., “A Procedure for Development of Quantitative NIR Methods and

    its Application to a Potent Drug Formulation,” IFPAC®/PAT/QbD Summit 2009, June 23-24,

    2009, San Juan, PR.

Mendez-Roman, R., Muzzio, F.J., “A Quality by Design in Filling of Tablet Press Dies,”

    IFPAC®/PAT/QbD Summit 2009, June 23-24, 2009, San Juan, PR.

Velázquez, C., “A Quality by Design Approach to Control Systems,” IFPAC®/PAT/QbD Summit

    2009, June 23-24, 2009, San Juan, PR.

Realpe, A., Velázquez, C., Obregón, L., “Agglomeration modeling of small and large particles by a

    diffusion theory approach” (p 1127-1134)?Published Online: Apr 7 2009 1:44PM?DOI:

    10.1002/aic.11745; AIChE Journal.

Meng, X., Chen, Y., Chowdhury, S. R.,Yang, D., Mitra, S., "Stabilizing dispersions of hydrophobic drug

    molecules using cellulose ethers during anti-solvent synthesis of micro-particulates," Colloids and

    Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, 2009, 70,7-14.

Deshpande, K.V., and Shapley, N.C., "Particle migration in oscillatory torsional flows of concentrated

    suspensions," submitted to the Journal of Rheology, May 16, 2009.

Shapley, N.C., "NMR Imaging of Bimodal Suspension Flows," School of Engineering, Montana State

    University, Bozeman, MT, April 2009.

Guerrieri, P., and Taylor, L.S. (2009) Role of salt and excipient properties on disproportionation in

    the solid-state. Pharmaceutical Research 26(8):2015-2026. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007

    /s11095-009-9918-y

Wikström, H., Kakidas, C. and Taylor, L.S. (2009). Determination of hydrate transition temperature

    using transformation kinetics obtained using Raman spectroscopy. Journal of Pharmaceutical and

    Biomedical Analysis.49:247-252. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpba.2008.11.008

Marsac, P.J., Li, T., and Taylor, L. S. (2009) Estimation of Drug-Polymer Miscibility and Solubility in

    Amorphous Solid Dispersions using Experimentally Determined Interaction Parameters.

    Pharmaceutical Research. 26(1):139-151.http//dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11095-008-9721-1

Ortiz, J., Kestur U., Taylor, L.S. and Mauer, L.J. (2009) Interaction of environmental moisture with

    powdered green tea formulations: Relationship between catechin stability and moisture-induced

    phase transformations. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 57(11):4691-4697.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jf8038583

Lainez, J.M., L. Puigjaner and G.V. Reklaitis, “Financial and Financial Engineering Considerations in

    Supply Chain and Product Pipeline Management”, Comput. & Chem Engr, 33, (2009)

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compchemeng.2009.06.025   

Kuriyan, K, A.C. Catlin and G.V. Reklaitis, “pharmaHUB: Building a Virtual Organization for

    Pharmaceutical Engineering and Science”, J Pharmaceutical Innovation, 2, Issue 2 (2009)

    (available on line, http://www.springerlink.com/content/r73p1t5844n5643p/fulltext.html)

Beaudoin, S., gave invited lectures at the IFPRI Ann Arbor meeting and also at the recent Gordon

    Conference on Detection of Illicit Substances (Drugs and Explosives) held at Les Diablerets in

    the Swiss Alps.

Litster, J., gave a plenary lecture entitled:  "Granulation-what of the future?" 9^th International

    Agglomeration Symposium /4^th International Granulations Workshop held in the UK.

Reklaitis, R. gave a keynote lecture “Overview of Role of Mechanistic Models for Drug Product

    Manufacturing Unit Operations,” at the AAPS Workshop on Utilization of Process Modeling &

    Advanced Process Control in QbD based Drug Development and Manufacturing, April 27-28,

    2009, Baltimore, MD.

Reklaitis, R. presented a plenary entitled “Successes and Challenges for Simulation & Modeling in

    Process Systems Engineering”, at the Multiagency Workshop on Simulation-Based Engineering &

    Science, WTEC, National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC, April 22-23, 2009.