The Biopharmaceutical Engineering Practice School  (BioPhEPS) Program at King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) is a two-year international program leading to a Master's degree in Chemical Engineering.  This intensive yet practical program was developed in collaboration with National Science Technology and Innovation Office (STI), which is tasked with producing policies and plans to promote science, technology, and innovation in Thailand.  BioPhEPS offers full scholarships worth 500,000 baht over 2 years to qualified candidates.

 

The practice school fosters:

 

• Organization and planning

• Leadership and teamwork

• Engineering judgment

• English communication

• Engineering economics and management

• Presentation skill

 

Curriculum

 

Just like ChEPS, the BioPhEPS curriculum consists of spending the first year on campus doing graduate coursework, and spending the second year undertaking one semester of individual thesis project and one semester of practical training.  

 

BioPhEPS coursework includes:

 

• Cell Biology

• Biochemical Engineering

• Intermediate Transport Phenomena

• Chemical Reaction Engineering

• Physical Chemistry of Pharmaceutics

• Mathematical Analysis for Chemical Engineering

• Introduction to Development and Manufacturing of Biopharmaceutics

• Biopharmaceutical Industry

• Good Manufacturing Practice in Pharmaceutical Industry

• Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Design Problem

• Graduate Seminar

 

See the complete BioPhEPS curriculum here.

 

Research Areas

 

Research plays a vital role in the training of graduate students. BioPhEPS offers research topics in many areas including:

 

• Biochemical engineering

• Drug delivery

• Bioinformatics

• Systems biology

• Biosensors

• Bioinstrumentation

 

Furthermore, the BioPhEPS program is currently working closely with some overseas institutions in order to offer its students an opportunity to conduct their thesis projects overseas.

 

Knowledge through Practice

 

One aspect that distinguishes the practice school from other co-op programs is the presence of a full-time site director at each work placement. The site director is a qualified KMUTT faculty with a PhD degree. Practicing students work closely with the host company’s engineers and the site director to identify and solve real-life problems. In addition, BioPhEPS requires its faculty members to regularly visit the placements to attend presentations and provide feedback to students.

 

BioPhEPS Practice Sites

 

BioPhEPS currently operates two practice sites:

 

1. Siam Biosciences Co., Ltd.

                                                 Located in Bangyai, Nonthaburi, Siam Bioscience Co., Ltd. is a life-sciences company in 

                                                 Thailand focusing on commercialization of both pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical

                                                 products. Theh company's key products include medicines in the following therapeutic areas:

                                                 oncology, antiviral, autoimmune disorders, central nervous system, cardiovascular, and metabolic disorders. The Board of Directors and Executive Board consist of current and former executives, physicians, and scholars. These various backgrounds allow the team to handle every aspects of biopharmaceutical industry which is highly innovative and still relatively new industry in this region

                                                                                 

2. National Biopharmaceutical Facility (NBF)

                                        To develop the state-of-the-art manufacturing infrastructure for bio-pharmaceutical industry in                                                 Thailand, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi proposed the establishment of National                                         Biopharmaceutical Facility (NBF) as Thailand’s prime manufacturing site for biopharmaceuticals.                                               The unit serves as a center of excellence in science and technology to ensure self-reliance in the country for the production of drugs, vaccines and other high-value biomedical and biopharmaceutical products. NBF’s mission is to

 

• Carry out research, development, and engineering to generate knowledge as well as technologies in bioprocessing and biotechnology

• Develop infrastructure for innovation, science and technology with the focus on production process of drugs, vaccines, and other high-value biopharmaceuticals in laboratory and pilot scale to serve the needs of society and the country

• Establish pre-commercial pilot plant containing class 10000 clean room, Biosafety level 1+ that complies with PIC/S GMP requirements for production of drugs, vaccines and biopharmaceuticals.

• Provide staff training to create specialists in biological processes for foods, feeds,  fuels, drugs, vaccines and biopharmaceuticals

 

For more information,                         here for presentation slides of NBF by Dr.-Ing. Panit Kitsubun, Technical Director of NBF.