Event
CHBE Seminar: Dr. Hossein Salami, Merck
Friday, September 20, 2024
11:00 a.m.
Room 2108 Chemical and Nuclear Engineering Building
Patricia Lorenzana
301-405-1935
plorenza@umd.edu
Role of Digital Tools in Transforming Pharmaceuticals Discovery, Development, and Manufacturing: Examples from First-Principles Process Modeling to AI/ML Models
Abstract: Like most other industries, there has been a rise of interest in leveraging various digital tools in the pharmaceuticals industry. Broadly defined to encompass various approaches (first-principles molecular and process models, data-driven AI and ML models, automated data analysis pipelines, etc.), these tools are considered major contributors to the industry 4.0 and 5.0 revolution across different areas from innovation and discovery to research and development, as well as manufacturing and control. In this talk, I will share example use cases from different stages of drug development pipeline and discuss some of the successes and accomplishments in driving value from various digital tools as well as some of the open research questions and technical challenges to be addressed. I will end the talk with a discussion of different opportunities for, and the distinct role of chemical engineers in addressing future challenges, building the necessary tools, and advancing the field in various aspects.
Bio: Dr. Hossein Salami has a B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Sharif University of Technology, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Maryland, College Park in 2019. Advised by Dr. Raymond Adomaitis and in collaboration with Dr. Vivek Dwivedi of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, his Ph.D. research focus was on the synthesis of nanomaterials for space-related applications including synthesis and optimization of thin-film coatings to adjust the electrical conductivity of spacecraft heat radiators. Upon graduation, He spent 2.5 years at the Georgia Institute of Technology as a postdoctoral fellow. Advised by Dr. Martha Grover, Dr. Ronald Rousseau, and Dr. Andreas Bommarius, he worked on an FDA-supported project for developing a pilot kilo-scale process for biocatalytic continuous manufacturing of beta-lactam antibiotics, as well as building data-driven PAT models for process monitoring. In 2022 he joined Merck & Co. Inc. as a postdoctoral fellow in the Analytical Research and Development department, focusing on developing and evaluating various AI/ML tools to enable data analysis for high-throughput experiments including flow-microscopy for stability monitoring of sterile products. In 2023, he moved to the Digital Manufacturing department at Merck & Co. Inc. as a senior scientist where his work centers around providing data analytics support and building various data-driven applications to enable robust and efficient workflows for manufacturing and quality groups. Hossein is also an adjunct professor at the Union County Community college and has published 14 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He is a senior member of the AIChE and active member of the Pharmaceuticals Discovery Development and Manufacturing (PD2M) Forum.
