Division of Nuclear Pharmacy - Headed by Stanley M. Shaw, Ph.D., the Division of Nuclear Pharmacy is an organizational unit within the Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy. The educational focus of the Division is professional, post-graduate, and graduate education in nuclear pharmacy and radiopharmaceutical chemistry. This teaching mission is complemented by faculty research on biomedical applications of radionuclides and radiotracer methodology.

Nuclear Pharmacy Laboratories - The laboratory courses of the nuclear pharmacy curriculum are taught in dedicated teaching laboratories that occupy 1700 square feet. These instructional laboratories, which are shared with the medical and health physics programs of the School of Health Sciences, are equipped with: 12 shielded nuclear pharmacy workstations, four fume hoods, 2 Capintec CRC-15R radionuclide dose calibrators, Mettler analytical balance, 4 portable Ludlum G-M survey meters, 8 benchtop G-M survey meters, 12 single channel analyzers, 4 multichannel analyzers, a laminar flow hood, a PhoGamma large field-of-view Anger camera and NucLearMac computer system for gamma imaging, and a Packard InstantImager for digital autoradiography. This equipment is generally available for research use outside of scheduled instructional laboratory sessions.

In addition, there is a wide array of supporting chemical and radioanalytical equipment in research laboratories associated with the Division. This equipment includes a Packard 5530 large vial (28mm) automatic gamma counting system with 3x3.25 inch NaI crystal and three user-definable counting windows; two Berthold Tracemaster Automatic TLC linear analyzers, two Capintec-CRC-12R radionuclide dose calibrators, two Rainin Rabbitt-HP ternary gradient HPLC systems and one HP1100 quaternary HPLC, all equipped with both variable wavelength UV/vis and gamma detector systems; explosion-proof refrigerator for volatile chemical storage; chromatography refrigerator; freezer for temporary carcass storage; BAS 100A electrochemical analyzer; two Brinkman variable-speed ultracentrifuges; Sorvall RC2-B refrigerated centrifuge; three Buchi Model RE111 Rotovaps with waterbath and jack; Mettler AE 100 and Mettler AG245 electronic analytical balances; Mettler PM 600, PG802, and PG803 electronic semi-analytical balances; Harvard Apparatus infusion/withdrawal syringe pump Model 22; two Gilson automatic fraction collectors; peristaltic pump; E-C Apparatus low voltage electrophoresis power supply; and a Vaccuum-Atmopheres glove box.

The Division of Nuclear Pharmacy is also affiliated with the Indiana Center of Excellence in Biomedical Imaging.

Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy - Headed by Stephen R. Byrn, Ph.D., the Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy is involved in teaching, research, and service in all areas of pharmaceutics, with emphasis on three major, interrelated areas: industrial pharmacy; biopharmaceutics/pharmacokinetics; and physical pharmacy. In addition, the Division of Nuclear Pharmacy provides instruction, research, and service in the areas of radiopharmaceutical chemistry and nuclear pharmacy. Research concerned with design of drug products or dosage forms requires the interplay of all three areas to deliver products combining optimum stability, safety, efficacy, and reliability.

The department is also home to the Center for Pharmaceutical Processing Research (CPPR). The CPPR is funded in part by the National Science Foundation under the Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRC) program, which encourages cooperative research between academia and industry. Its mission is to foster an interdisciplinary approach to pharmaceutical processing-related research, to catalyze interaction between industrial and academic scientists, and to make the application of a basic science approach to formulation and manufacture of drug products an integral part of pharmaceutical education.

The Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy has access to a full range of analytical equipment. The department is a member of the campus-wide NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, laser spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry groups. This provides access to a broad range of equipment including over 10 superconducting NMR spectrometers (with one 600 MHz solution instrument and a 400 MHz solids instrument). The department has ready access to a small-molecule X-ray diffractometer equipped with a rotating anode generator and an area detector and a Raman microscope.

Internally, the department is equipped with a wide range of instruments and equipment to permit study of a broad field of research endeavors relating to the chemical, physical and biological sciences. The instrumentation includes modern UV-visible spectrometry, research quality optical microscopes, a research viscometer, a gamma counter, four differential scanning calorimeters, a dielectric analyzer, an isothermal microcalorimeter, x-ray powder diffraction at controlled temperature and relative humidity, a micro balance for water vapor adsorption studies, thermogravimetric analyzer, several HPLCs and other chromatographs.

The department also has a well-equipped pharmaceutical pilot plant. The pilot plant contains equipment for the processing of liquid, solid, and semi-solid dosage forms and includes a tablet laboratory with rotary and single punch machines, a high-speed tablet press, semi-automatic and automatic capsule-filling equipment, high shear granulator, roller compactor, spheronizer, extruder, fluid bed dryer, several blenders and complete coating facilities. The department makes extensive use of sensors, including NIR and Light Induced Fluorescence, to monitor processing in this equipment. Currently, two pilot scale-manufacturing lines (one wet and one dry) are in operation.

The department maintains a micromeritics laboratory with analytical instrumentation for particle and surface analyses. Instrumentation includes a Micromeritics multi-point surface area-pore volume analyzer, a helium pycnometer, a calorimeter, a polarizing microscope, a Rame-Hart goniometer, a laser particle size analyzer, an image analyzer, and a fiber optic Doppler anemometer. The department also has access to a cell culture laboratory for drug delivery research at the cellular level.

Other facilities within the school are a complete animal facility and a library containing an excellent collection of more than 20,000 volumes relating to all areas of pharmaceutical research.

School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences - Headed by Dean Craig Svensson, Ph.D., the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences was established in 1884. At Purdue University, the modern practice of pharmacy emerges from an educational program deep in tradition and built upon a strong foundation of science. The faculty have trained over 7,000 pharmacists, and over 1,000 pharmaceutical scientists and educators. Twenty-five percent of all Deans of Schools of Pharmacy in the United States are either Purdue alumni or former Purdue faculty members. Purdue alumni are well represented throughout many departments and divisions of companies in the pharmaceutical industry.

Purdue University, Indiana's land grant university, was founded in 1869. With a total enrollment of over 42,000 students, it is one of the largest universities in the United States. The 1556 acre main campus in West Lafayette houses over 35,000 students, the rest being distributed over three regional campuses. These students are served by an academic faculty of about 3,000 of which over 2,000 are located on the main campus. Purdue ranks among the top 15 U.S. universities in terms of size of its graduate program, which enrolls over 5,000 students on the West Lafayette campus.