Education:

1. Ph.D. Candidate, Chemical Engineering – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts – Projected Degree Conferral: December, 2012
2. M.S. Chemical Engineering - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts – June, 2010
3. B.S. Chemical Engineering - National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan - May, 2007

Research summary:

My Ph.D. thesis comprises the study and optimization of separation processes in pharmaceutical industries. The main goal is to avoid solid handling and increase the selectivity of traditional crystallization processes. I study the purification of intermediates and final active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) using selective impurity co-crystal formation or impurity complex formation in the solution. A strategy was designed to select the optimal co-former, solvent, and co-former concentration to achieve the best separation for a specific system. I am also exploring the possibility to purify the intermediates/APIs using self-assembled monolayers (SAMs).

Keywords:

Crystallization, co-crystals, separation processes, SAMs