A bright future in medicine for chemical engineering

Abstract

Chemical engineering principles will continue to help scientists design and optimize new medical devices, treatments and modalities. This Comment reflects on historical developments and potential opportunities in medicine for chemical engineering.In a paper published 20 years ago, we gave a detailed analysis of the early days of biomedical engineering and the influence chemical engineering had in medicine 1 . Indeed, chemical engineers have long used their background in fluid mechanics, materials engineering, mass transfer, reaction systems, control theory and process design to contribute to many areas of medicine. These include the development of artificial organs; blood rheology and thrombosis; tissue engineering; regenerative medicine; advanced biomaterials and medical devices; controlled drug delivery systems; genetic therapies; advanced vaccine development; medical imaging; biosensors; approaches to improved enzyme characteristics by immobilizing them on appropriate supports, placing them in organic solvents or using directed evolution; and contributions to synthetic biology, such as enabling mammalian cells to take on new functions by designing appropriate molecular switching systems 2-6 . Developing linear and nonlinear mathematical models for the analysis of advanced biomedical problems is an area where chemical engineers have been active for many years 7,8 . A recent example where mathematical models are proving useful is in predicting optimal vaccine schedules and developing new vaccines 9 . Biomedical engineering has become an increasingly important part of chemical engineering research and education in the past 60 years. Chemical engineers are well suited to address interdisciplinary problems, in particular, those requiring convergence 10 and the integration of complex molecular systems 8 . This Comment provides our perspectives on several historical developments and future opportunities in medicine for chemical engineering.

Hybrid films loaded with 5-fluorouracil and Reglan for synergistic treatment of colon cancer via asynchronous dual-drug delivery

“…Good compatibility between a drug and its carrier is important for realizing not only the desired controlled release profile of the drug but also chemical and physical stability for storage and shipping. New types of polymers are continuously being tested for potential biomedical applications ( Guo et al, 2021 ; Köse et al, 2022 ; Liao et al, 2023 ), and their compatibility with the loaded drugs is being disclosed ( Ejeta et al, 2022 ; Jurić et al, 2023 ; Langer and Peppas, 2024 ; Song et al, 2024 ). FTIR spectrometry is one of the popular methods used to assess the compatibilities of components.…”

Engineered shapes using electrohydrodynamic atomization for an improved drug delivery

“…Meanwhile, the physical and chemical methods are still highly desired for manipulating the shapes of functional micro-/nano products. Among all the top-down, bottom-up, and their combination methods (Isaacoff & Brown, 2017;Langer & Peppas, 2024;Lauhon et al, 2002), electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA) techniques have gradually projected their unique role with strong capability of adjusting shapes of micro-/nano-products in a simple and straightforward manner. What is more, some EHDA shapes have been intentionally investigated to verify their usefulness in manipulating the release behaviors of drug molecules from their EHDA products.…”