Pharmaceutical Drug Design and Delivery

Have you ever wondered how pharmaceutical drugs can be designed to be released in specific areas of the body in a specific amount of time? This very complicated problem can be solved using principles of mass transfer, the study of the movement of mass. In this workshop, you will learn about fundamental principles of mass transfer through a drug design application. This workshop uses the diffusion of dye through alginate beads to describe the diffusion of medicine from a drug capsule. You will take the principles of mass transfer from this workshop and apply them to a simulation of the diffusion of dye through alginate beads. Using this simulation, you will design a medicine capsule to be administered to a specific area of the body within an appropriate time frame.

The Chemical Engineering Outreach program at the University of Utah is dedicated to spreading awareness and invigorating interest in STEM fields. This club’s primary focus is K-12 schools but extends to university students, as well. Outreach trips to local schools, hosting science clubs/competitions, and tabling at STEM events constitute the majority of our activities.