Student News

• Successful Singapore Student BioPharmaceutical Symposium
• News from the Solano Community College Student Chapter
• Congratulations to ISPE’s Newest Student Chapter: Colorado State University at Fort Collins!
• ISPE Annual Meeting 2008: A Student’s Perspective
• ISPE Student Chapter of the Year…And the Winner Is - !
• ISPE Chapters Awarded for Extraordinary Student Chapter Support!
• The 2008 ISPE International Student Poster Competition has made history!
• Interamerican University Student Chapter Newsletter Available for Download (PDF, 2.1 MB)
• Medical University of Gdansk Student Chapter Reaches Out to the Community
• Ecole Poly Student Chapter Gets Involved in the Community
• Singapore Affiliate Student Chapter attends 2 June Annual General Meeting
• Student News Archive

Successful Singapore Student BioPharmaceutical Symposium

ISPE Singapore Affiliate received an overwhelming response for their First Annual Singapore Student BioPharmaceutical Symposium held at the Biopolis Matrix Auditorium on 17 October.

A record number of attendees turned up for the ISPE Singapore Affiliate’s First Annual Singapore Student BioPharmaceutical Symposium.

All polytechnic and university students in chemical, biological, engineering, and pharmaceutical tracks were encouraged to attend. 673 students from the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, and Temasek Polytechnic were registered for the symposium even though the auditorium only had capacity for 480 people. The purpose of the symposium was to introduce students to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in Singapore, and the wonderful opportunities that await them. The students in attendance also had a chance to find out more about the companies participating in the symposium as well as the attachment opportunities available.

Industry professionals from many well-known companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Schering-Plough Ltd, Genentech, Pfizer, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, and Wyeth, participated and spoke at the event. Speakers focused on topics such as process development, automation, developmental sciences, validation, process engineering, quality and manufacturing.

A special keynote session was delivered by Dr. Fatimah Lateef, who is the Director of Undergraduate Training and Education at National University of Singapore, as well as a senior clinical lecturer and a Member of Parliament. Dr. Lateef's presentation was inspiring to all students and focused on 'riding the tide to make it happen for you'.

The Affiliate also held special networking sessions after the symposium, for students to speak with the human resource departments of the companies present.

The Affiliate looks forward to replicating this successful event annually.

News from the Solano Community College Student Chapter

Solano CC Students Gather at the Academy of Sciences Museum

Students, Family and Friends Enjoying the Outdoors

Members of the Solano Community College Student Chapter recently spent an afternoon with family and friends at the newly-reopened Academy of Sciences Museum in San Francisco.

Led by President Brianna Gonzales, the Student Chapter is ably supported by Faculty Advisor Dr. James De Kloe and Industry Advisors Steve Baker of Devco Engineering and Bill Vandervoort of DST Controls. Kristen Dezzani, of Johnson & Johnson, serves as the Student Affairs Chair of the San Francisco/Bay Area Chapter.

Current students and biotech alumni met up during Solano's annual 4-day bioreactor run. Their Faculty Advisor is shown playing the Rock Band video game with Student Member Lea Kelly. Two former Solano biotech students, Suzanne Jensen and Shanika, joined in the fun.

Congratulations to ISPE’s Newest Student Chapter: Colorado State University at Fort Collins!

Led by a team of dedicated Student Officers and Advisors, Colorado State University at Fort Collins became ISPE’s newest Student Chapter in November! The Student Chapter, which is twenty-eight Members strong, is supported by the Rocky Mountain Chapter of ISPE. Josh Kunert of CRB Consulting Engineers, Inc., is the Student Affairs Chair. Emily Stump of Product Development & Mfg Core, CSU is the Industry Advisor and Mary Sanders, of PMPCE-PDM, Colorado State, is the Faculty Advisor. The photo shows some of the Student Chapter Members at a very successful plant tour of Roche earlier this Fall.

ISPE Annual Meeting 2008: A Student’s Perspective

Wow! I think this exclamation pretty much sums up my week as a student poster competitor at this year’s ISPE Annual Meeting in Boca Raton Florida. But I won’t leave it at that.

As I flew into Ft. Lauderdale I wasn’t sure what to expect, since this was my first trip to the ISPE AM. When I arrived in Boca Raton on Saturday night the gorgeous and expansive Boca Raton Resort and Club was alight with activity. The resort, located on the beautiful Intracostal Waterway, featured restaurants, bars, tropical plant life, and the one of a kind architectural style of Addison Mizner. To say I was impressed with the location and facilities is an understatement.

The student activities kicked off on Sunday with the Student Luncheon. This luncheon offered the opportunity to meet other students from across the U.S. and around the World. I met students who came from as far away as Singapore and Turkey. We also had the great pleasure of eating lunch with a number of industry leaders dedicated to mentoring the up and coming generation of ISPE. This is one of the greatest assets of ISPE membership from a student standpoint.

Meeting and interacting with pharmaceutical and biotech industry professionals allows us to learn the tricks of the trade and establish valuable relationships with people eager to help us succeed. These are things you can’t learn from a textbook or in the lab, but I consider them just as valuable as my education. It is simply amazing to be involved in an organization that shows such dedication to developing its student members.

I’m sure you are all wondering what it was like competing in the International Student Poster Competition. Up to this point in my ISPE career I have never been disappointed with an event or activity and the poster competition was no exception. The caliber of students and their research was exceptional. I enjoyed speaking with many of my fellow competitors about their work and I certainly learned a lot about the research that is ongoing around the world. I’ll admit I was a little nervous as I walked into the judging room. But once the butterflies settled I really enjoyed presenting my research and interacting with the judges.

I’m normally a pretty humble guy and I don’t like to brag. But, I am proud to say that I won first prize in the undergraduate category of the poster competition along with Maureen Cheung of the University of Akron. It was truly an honor to walk up to the stage and receive the award in front of hundreds of ISPE members. I was especially proud to be representing the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Boston Area Chapter of ISPE.

From Left to Right: Jeremy Sauer, Jason Lajoie, Rick Pierro, Student Affairs Chair of the Boston Area Chapter, and Akshay Navaladi

On Monday night after the judging for the poster competition drew to a close, UMass ISPE president Jeremy Sauer and I had the great pleasure of going out to dinner with Rick Pierro, Mike Denault, and Andre Walker. We had a wonderful time and this was yet another example of how the senior members of ISPE are interested in mentoring and forming relationships with the student members.

This experience was truly once in a lifetime. The Boca Raton resort was magnificent and the program put on by ISPE was first rate. All of the people that Jeremy and I met there were as enthusiastic and excited to talk to us students as we were to meet them. The annual meeting also gave us a great opportunity to meet with fellow students and talk about classes, the job search, and strategies for building a better chapter. During the meeting we even consulted with a student from Boston University on how to start up his own student chapter. For all of these experiences, we cannot thank ISPE enough. We only hope that as we embark on our careers that we can stay involved in this wonderful organization and continue to learn and grow within the industry.

*Jason Lajoie
UMass ISPE Executive Advisor
jmlajoie@student.umass.edu
774-696-1352

Jeremy Sauer
UMass ISPE President
jsauer@student.umass.edu

* Send correspondence to

ISPE Student Chapter of the Year…And the Winner Is - !

Shouts rang out at the Annual Meeting in Boca Raton as Bob Best announced the winner of the ISPE Student Chapter of the Year – École Polytechnique de Montréal Student Chapter! Éric Boivin, the elated Past President of the Student Chapter accepted the award along with Central Canada Chapter President Raymond Marcoux.

The students had an amazing year – plant tours, industry presentations, Lunch and Learn programs, a cash award from their Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Exportation, the inaugural INTERPHEX Canada, and more. They also managed to raise funds for three local charities by participating in fun runs. The Board and the students truly exemplify what it means to be the best. Congratulations to the ISPE Student Chapter of the Year!

ISPE Chapters Awarded for Extraordinary Student Chapter Support!

The Chapter receiving the Grand Award in Student Programs has gone the extra mile for each of its eight Student Chapters and close to 200 Student Members. They performed exceptionally in management, activities, communications and, especially so, in membership growth. The Grand Award goes to Carolina-South Atlantic.

Carolina-South Atlantic Chapter joined by their Student Members who attended Annual Meeting 2008

The First Place Award in Student Programs goes to two Chapters with the next level of innovative Student development programs. In addition to supporting higher educational institutions and students, both Chapters are also actively involved in educating elementary and high school students. The winning Chapters are San Francisco/Bay Area and Delaware Valley.

San Francisco/Bay Area Chapter joined by their Student Poster Competitors

The Outstanding Award in Student Programs goes to the Chapter that has successfully organized and sustains its Student Chapters including one in another country. These enthusiastic Chapter Members empower their Student Members to participate in the Chapter activities and to develop their own activities to contribute to ISPE goals and objectives. The Outstanding Award goes to Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico Chapter joined by their Student Members who attended Annual Meeting '08

The 2008 ISPE International Student Poster Competition has made history!

Taking place during the ISPE 2008 Annual Meeting, there was a tie in the undergraduate level competition AND there was a tie in the graduate level competition!

The winning undergraduate level competitors were:

• Maureen Cheung, University of Akron, representing the Great Lakes Chapter, with her poster titled: Development of a Swine Model for the Evaluation of Novel Compounds in the Prevention of Pelvic Adhesions
• Jason Lajoie, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, representing the Boston Area Chapter, with his poster titled: Directed Evolution of the RhlI Protein

The winning graduate level competitors were:

• Nicola Francis, Drexel University, representing the Delaware Valley Chapter, with her poster titled: Optimization of alginate gel fabrication for maximal neurite growth in vitro
• Padmaja Magadala, Northeastern University, representing the Boston Area Chapter, with her poster titled: Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-Targeted Engineered Gelatin Nanovectors for Gene Delivery and Transfection in Pancreatic Cancer Cells

Each winning competitor is awarded a plaque and a cash award for their research. All of the competitors in the 2008 International Student Poster Competition are given the opportunity to write about their research in Pharmaceutical Engineering magazine.

Medical University of Gdansk Student Chapter Reaches Out to the Community
Submitted by: Michal Burdyñski, Outgoing Student Chapter President

Picnic for Health – 7 June 2008

Picnic for Health is an annual event that was first organized by the Medical University of Gdansk in 2005 June. Its main goal is to popularize taking better care of your health among Gdansk citizens. Some departments and student chapters at the University host stands at the Picnic for Health. For example, visitors can measure the levels of glucose and cholesterol in their blood. At other stands, they can check blood pressure and obtain information on how to live healthier lives. At the ISPE Student Chapter stand, we presented how ointments, hydrogels and capsules are prepared in pharmacies. We also answered visitors’ questions about drugs and explained differences between dosage forms, for example, fast dissolving and slow release tablets.

Krzysztof Baczynski displays ointment packaging in the tube

Community visitors at the ISPE Student Chapter Stand

Medical Day of Science – 30 May 2008

On 30th May 2008 the ISPE Student Chapter organized a stand at the Annual 'Medical Day of Science' event. The Student Chapter presented on the process of microencapsulation with calcium alginate, the differences between o/w and w/o emulsion, and the technology of production of Carbomer-based gel. We also demonstrated the principles of the hardnessmeter, the extruder and the spheronisator. There were a great amount of high school students who were really interested in the experiments we presented at the stand.

High school students visiting the stand make their first calcium alginate-based microcapsules

An explanation of spheronisator principles to the Rector of the Medical University, Mr. Professor Roman Kaliszan

Ecole Poly Student Chapter Gets Involved in the Community

Submitted by Eric Boivin, Outgoing Student Chapter President

This year at Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, we wanted our Student Chapter to be involved in the community. Since our Chapter is related to the pharmaceutical industry, we wanted to participate in activities that would somehow be related to it. Anne Danion, our Secretary, suggested that we participate in Runs for different causes. This way, we could help people and be healthier at the same time.

During the year, we participated in a total of three runs. The first one was on 30 September 2007. On this day, we "Ran 10 km for the Cure" to collect funds for Breast cancer research. We were able to collect almost 700 Canadian dollars.

The second run was on 20 April 2008. In Quebec, we have an organization called Mira which trains dogs for blind people. All the profit of the 5 km run (or 21 km for more in shape people) were given to this organization.

Ecole Poly Team at the Mira run with Fuego!

Last saturday, our student chapter had its final activity for the year 2007-2008. A group of ISPE Students participated in the 10 km run "Step up for the children" to collect funds for research on childhood diseases. Our Chapter was able to collect 540 Canadian dollars for this cause.

 

Singapore Affiliate Student Chapter attends 2 June Annual General Meeting

Lin Shuning Corliss, President of the Singapore Student Chapter and a student at the National University of Singapore, receives her award from Tracy Clemmer, President of the Singapore Affiliate.

The students listen to Tong Meng Kiat Benny, incoming President of the Singapore Student Chapter, and a student at Nanyang Technological University.

Singapore Student Chapter Members with their Industry Advisor, Kelly Keen and the President of the Singapore Affiliate, Tracy Clemmer.

Singapore Student Chapter members enjoy a well-deserved buffet break during their Annual General Meeting.