Experimenting With Drugs in Puerto Rico

Submitted by Jacob Townsend on 24 July 2015 - 10:27am

Yes, I have been experimenting with drugs all summer in Puerto Rico! It's true, but probably not in the way you were thinking! In my 10 week stay at the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez, my lab has been doing studies on near infrared spectroscopy with pharmaceutical powders. It was initially our goal to quantify low concentrations of pharmaceuticals in a powder. However, when this was attempted, there were many hurdles. The character of the powder's composition made a larger impact on the spectra than small differences in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) content.

Research Experience at UPRM (REU)

Submitted by Jacob Townsend on 6 July 2015 - 12:27pm

Over the summer, I have been doing research at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez with professors Rafael Mendez and Rodolfo Romanach in the pharmaceutical research lab. It has been great getting to work with them and the graduate students of the lab. The research is focused on using light absorption characteristics of pharmaceuticals to detect their concentrations. The method of interest has been near infrared spectroscopy.