SSAP - Solid state analysis of pharmaceuticals
Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences at University of Copenhagen
This course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School), and for PhD Students from NorDoc member faculties. All other participants must pay the course fee.
Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at a Danish university, you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. This also applies to PhD students from NorDoc member faculties. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to applicants on the waiting list.
Learning objectives
A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:
Knowledge:
1. Understand the importance of solid state properties within the field of pharmaceutics
2. Identify and describe relevant phase transitions in pharmaceutical materials (melting, crystallization, polymorphism, glass transition, dehydration, volatiles analysis, moisture content etc)
3. Understand molecular level interactions in different solid forms, including crystalline and amorphous solids
4. Evaluate crystallographic results and review crystallographic databases
5. Use a set of different standard solid state analytical tools, with a specific view on orthagonality of thermal, diffractomets, spectrocospit and imaging techniques
6. Relate particle properties to powder behavior (packing, flowability, fluidization, powder rheology)
7. Reflect on solid state properties influenced by processing stresses and manufacturing procedures
Skills:
1. Explain the dissolution behavior of a drug in relation with its solid state properties
2. Evaluate and discuss data obtained from the practical part of the course
Competence:
1. Hands on experience of some solid-state analytical techniques
Content
The presence of different solid state forms for a given pharmaceutical compounds is of critical importance – processability, dissolution rate and bioavailability are examples of final product characteristics that can be critically affected by these properties.
The lectures will cover the following key topics:
• Structural classifications of pharmaceutical solids
• Order and disorder in crystalline and amorphous solids
• Theory and application of diffractometric analytical techniques: Single-crystal X-ray diffraction, Powder X-ray diffraction, Total scattering, Applications of synchrotron radiation
• Theory and application of thermal analytical techniques: Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), modulated DSC (MDSC) and thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), isothermal microcalorimetry (Thermal Activity Monitoring TAM III)
• Theory and application of spectroscopic techniques (mid frequqncy IR and Raman spectrsocoy, low frequency IR and Raman spectrocopy, solid state NMR)
• Theory and application of powder properties (packing, flowability, fluidization, powder rheology)
• Influence of the solid state properties on solubility and dissolution
Participants
The course is relevant for PhD students with in pharmaceutical sciences
Relevance to graduate programmes
The course is relevant to PhD students from the following graduate programmes at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH:
All graduate programmes
Pharmaceutical Sciences (Drug Research Academy)
Language
English
Form
It is a 5-day course comprising 21 lectures and experimental group work. The groups will present their work at the end of the course in an oral group presentation and will have to finalize their findings in form of an oral presentation and a written report. Own relevant samples of the course participants may be used.
Course directors
Thomas Rades, Prof., KU, thomas.rades@sund.ku.dk
Inês Martins, Assit. Prof., KU, ines.martins@sund.ku.dk
Teachers
Thomas Rades, Professor, KU
Andrew Bond, Professor, University of Cambridge, UK
Jukka Rantanen, Professor, KU
Inês Martins, Assistant Professor, KU
Anette Müllertz, Professor, KU
Flemming Hoffmann Larsen, PhD, Leo Pharma, DK
Clare Strachan, Professor, University of Helsinki
Dates
23-27 June 2025
Course location
PharmaSchool, Universitetsparken 2, 2100 Copenhagen
Registration
Please register before 15 May 2025
Expected frequency
Every second year
Seats to PhD students from other Danish universities will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules. Applications from other participants will be considered after the last day of enrolment.
Note: All applicants are asked to submit invoice details in case of no-show, late cancellation or obligation to pay the course fee (typically non-PhD students). If you are a PhD student, your participation in the course must be in agreement with your principal supervisor.