Theory and Practice of Near Infrared in the Life Science Industries

This course is designed to provide an overview of the applications of near-infrared in the pharmaceutical field for inexperienced or current users of NIR. It may be used to supplement instrument manufacturers’ courses which are often based on only one type of equipment. The course will show the wide assortment of hardware and software available, describe their uses as well as highlighting the strengths of these products. Current users of NIR will be shown a larger frame of reference and can add to the scope of understanding they already possess. Updates to commercial instruments will be discussed as well as sample interfaces for lab and process applications.

This course covers the fundamentals of NIR, the wide variety of equipment available, and introduces the student to the various types of software programs used in NIR. While not going in-depth in the algorithms, the students will receive sufficient information to intelligently choose and apply the proper software packages for their own applications.

All topics include examples of actual pharmaceutical analyses, how analytical techniques may be developed, how samples are chosen or made for calibrations, how to build and improve calibrations, and how these may be validated and reported to the appropriate agencies (FDA, EMA).

Participants are encouraged to bring one or more problems for discussion (with class or privately with the instructor).