Unit 1: Thermodynamics

• The first law of thermodynamics. Internal Energy, enthalpy, specific heat capacity.
• The second and third law of thermodynamics. Entropy. Effect of temperature to: Specific heat capacity, internal energy, enthalpy and entropy
• Phase transitions. Vapor pressure, sublimation pressure, enthalpy changes related to phase transitions. The Helmholtz and Gibbs energy. The equilibrium constant. Enthalpies and Gibbs free energies of formation. Spontaneous chemical reactions.

Unit 2: Transport Phenomena

Unit 3: Unit operations

• Phase equilibrium as input for unit operations
• Absorption, desorption, distillation
• Leaching and Extraction, phase equilibrium diagrams for binary and ternary mixtures.
• Agitation and Mixing of Liquids
• Fixed-Bed Separations
• Drying and Crystallization, psychrometric chart, wet- and dry-bulb temperature, dew point temperature.

Unit 4: Materials and Energy balance

• Systems and processes,
• Material balance with and without chemical reaction.
• Energy balance with and without chemical reaction.
• Combined material and energy balances.

• Introduction to programming: syntax, basic commands, variables and functions, expressions and flow control, libraries expressions, variables and values
• Data Processing: qualitative assessment, visualisation, normalisation
• Advanced Statistics: Hypothesis testing, types of regression, statistics on large data sets, Principal Component Analysis, Design of Experiments, ANOVA
• Data Mining Techniques: Supervised and Unsupervised Learning, Dimensionality Reduction, Classification, Decision Trees, Clustering
• Numerical Analysis: root finding, numerical solution of systems of ODEs, linear and integer programming
• Applications in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering processes

Case study: Production of Yogurt Enriched with Vitamin D and Calcium

• Introduction to yogurt production technology:
• Development of process flow diagram
• Fermentation (& kinetics)
• Mass balances/Analysis of degrees of freedom/basic design equations
• Preliminary dimensioning of main equipment (pasteurization/fermenter)
• Steam and electrical energy production for industrial use. Use of cooling water. Cooling towers
• HACCP
• Basic economic terms/indicators
• Sensitivity analysis with economic terms
• Waste management. Environmental assessment of (bio-)chemical processes. Carbon and nitrogen cycles. Life cycle analysis. Categories of environmental impacts. Impact assessment

Innovation and product development strategy

• Functional food design
• Digestion engineering
• Digestive system
• Digestion simulation
• Modeling
• Infogest Laboratory
• Methods for improving bioavailability
• Chemistry of natural functional ingredients (vitamins, trace elements, antioxidants)
• Methods of incorporating biofunctional ingredients
• Spray drying (Theory and laboratory)
• Lyophilization
• Microfluidization
• Ultrasound
• Tabletting (Laboratory)
• Methods for determining biofunctionality:
• In vitro
• Cell lines
• In vivo
• In silico

• Introduction
• Basic terms and definitions
• Drug Discovery and Development
• Process Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry
• New (innovative) drugs – Generic drugs -Biosimilars
• Drug properties: solubility-particle size
• Intro to Pharmacokinetics Pharmacodynamics – Bioavailability-Bioequivalence
• Analysis of pharmaceuticals
• Quality control of Pharmaceuticals – Good manufacturing practices- Pharmaceutical Quality by Design (QbD)
• Scale up in the pharmaceutical industry: from lab to industrial production -Case studies
• Scale up vs scale-out, Single Use technologies – Spatial planning of the pharmaceutical industry (Negative/positive pressure rooms, gowning/degowning, personnel and material flow)
• Pharmaceutical process development
• The drug manufacturing process
• Tablet-Capsules-Ointments-Creams -Emulsions-Suspensions
• Drug Delivery – Diffusion and Dissolution of Drugs Stability – Shelf life of pharmaceuticals

Laboratory: extraction methods, production of ointments-creams

• Introduction: Review of biomaterials and biocompatibility.
• Design and characterization of bioceramics and bioglasses for applications in health.
• Biodegradable metals, alloys, biopolymers, and composites for applications in health.
• Decellularized Matrix-Based Biomaterials.
• Magnetic nanoparticles: synthesis methods and surface modification.
• Fabrication processes of bioceramics.
• Molecular interactions of biomolecules.

Laboratory work on: Materials characterization by TGA-DSC, UV-Vis, XRD, NMR, FTIR, Raman

Production and Operations Management Spatial arrangement of an industrial plant.

• Supply Chain Management
• Inventory management
• Total Production Planning – Sales and Operations Planning
• Lean manufacturing– Just in Time
• MRP-ERP (Material Requirements Planning – Enterprise Resource Planning)
• Quality assurance
• Maintenance and Reliability
• Safety and risk assessment in (bio-)chemical industries. Common risks. Calculation of risks and impacts. Hazard characterization
• Food legislation – PDO, PGI
• Trademark
• legislation of medicines – Rules and issues of drug manufacturing and distribution
• Intellectual Property Law

• Overview of a manufacturing process flowsheet – Mass Balances – Component and stream composition – Introduction to the case study
• Cell growth in Erlenmeyer flasks and benchtop bioreactors in batch mode
• Bioreactor Design Ι
• Bioreactor Design ΙΙ
• Oxygen mass transfer(kLa)
• Model based scale-up study (Bench -top to pilot scale, operating & aeration policies)
• Centrifugation & Downstream Separations
• Extraction – Crystallization I
• Extraction – Crystallization II
• Fluidized bed drying
• Whole bioprocess simulation Ι
• Whole bioprocess simulation ΙΙ

Laboratory exercises: Bioreactor Run I, Bioreactor Run II

• Introduction to Biomedical Engineering
• Medical devices
• Cellular pathway networks
• Biokinetics in human tissues
• Safe by design
• Regenerative medicine – Tissue engineering
• Signaling pathways
• Cellular regulation: Growth, death, differentiation
• Stem cells
• Cellular regulation through chemical and biological agents
• Growth Factors
• The Role of the Matrix in Tissue Engineering Theory
• The role of the matrix in tissue engineering Practical application
• Hard Tissue Engineering
• Soft Tissue Engineering
• Mammalian organs, tissues and cells-Laboratory
• Production processes and characterization methods in tissue engineering – Laboratory
• Mechanical signals in tissue engineering – Laboratory

• Introduction to Bioanalysis.
• Holistic analysis. omics techniques.
• Data processing and statistical analysis.
• Description of biological matrices.
• Sample preparation techniques.
• Metal-OMICS and applications.
• Modern analytical techniques in Bioanalysis and applications.
• Validation of analytical/bioanalytical methods.

 

• 1st Laboratory Exercise. Demonstration of a metabolomic analysis workflow using the LC-MS technique.
• 2nd Laboratory Exercise. Analysis of antibiotics in blood samples collected at different time points by LC-MS (available in the laboratory).
• 3rd Laboratory Exercise. Sample preparation using different matrices such as blood, urine, DBS and DUS for LC-UV and GC-MS analysis.
• 4th Laboratory Exercise. Quantitation of Copper in urine samples via FAAS.
• 5th Laboratory Exercise. Drug detection in biological samples by LC-qTOF and GC-MS/MS.

The postgraduate diploma thesis of the 3rd semester aims to introduce the student to the scientific research, research methodology and scientific literature, with the communication of their results, both written and oral, according to the rules applicable in the international scientific community. It includes the review of the scientific literature and the presentation of its results in a scientific subject. In addition, the student will look for fields of innovation/originality based on the literature review and will design the experimental or computational study that he/she will prepare as part of his master’s thesis, and will present the plan of the study (experimental or computational studies) to his three-members committee for approval.

The postgraduate diploma Thesis in the fourth semester aims to introduce the student to the scientific research and/or scientific literature, research methodology, with the communication of their results, both written and oral, according to the rules applicable to the international scientific community. It includes the review of the scientific literature and the presentation of its results in a scientific subject. In addition, the student will be trained in the laboratory/computer methodologies that will be required for his/her thesis and will then conduct experiments/computer studies independently, according to the plan approved during the completion of the “Master’s Thesis ( Literature review and design of experimental or computational study) of the third semester, and he/she will constantly evaluate his results in collaboration with his supervisor, redesign the next steps and evaluate the originality and innovation. Then, after the cycle of experiments/computational studies has been successfully completed, he/she will write the text of his diploma thesis where the results will be presented in a critical manner and always in accordance with the Regulations for diploma theses of the postgraduate program. Finally, he will present his thesis publicly.