Department of Pharmacy & Pharmacology, Unit Catalogue 2008/09 |
PA20024 Applied pharmaceutical microbiology |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Intermediate |
| Semester: 2 |
| Assessment: EX 100% |
| Requisites: |
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Aims: To introduce the principles of control of microbial contamination and sterilisation as applied to pharmaceutical products.
Learning Outcomes: After taking this unit the student should be able to: 1. explain the microbiological and physico-chemical properties of non-antibiotic antimicrobial agents and justify their use in pharmaceutical formulation and 2. the principles and the technology of the various methods of sterilising pharmaceutical products and the illustrate the associated procedures concerned with quality assurance. Skills: Scientific and practical skills (T/F/A) Study skills, handling information, working with others (T/F) Problem solving (T/F/A). Content: Sources of microbial contamination. Kinetics of microbial inactivation and the construction and interpretation of survivor curves. Disinfectants, antiseptics and preservatives; their modes of action, assessment of efficacy and formulation parameters. Introduction to sterilisation methods; comparative advantages and disadvantages of heat, irradiation, gaseous and filtration methods. Validation of all methods. Pyrogens. Sterility testing. Facility Design. |