Pharmaceutical (Nano-) technology & cosmetology (Compulsory – 8 ECTS)

This course aims to develop an awareness of the theory and practice around pharmaceutical technology, cosmetology and nanotechnology and the potential interplay amongst them. The course is organized around 2 different sections. The major focus of the first section is to make students familiar with terms like pharmaceuticals and cosmetics and provide key background information around these ever-evolving fields. The most recent advances in pharmaceutical and cosmetic formulation development will also be extensively discussed. In particular, students will acquire knowledge around -among others- the routes of drug administration, bioavailability, drug release profiles and protein therapeutics. During the semester, the course participants will become aware of advanced drug delivery systems (liposomes, dendrimers, etc.) and their physicochemical characterization. By the end of the module, students will also get hands-on laboratory experience by participating in three distinctive laboratory classes, where they will focus on the development of pharmaceutical-, cosmetic- and nano-formulations and their subsequent characterization, using advanced analytical techniques (e.g., Dynamic Light Scattering, Laser Doppler Electrophoresis, UV-Vis spectroscopy etc).