11. Biomolecular Engineering: General Concepts

Frontiers of Biomedical Engineering (BENG 100)

Professor Saltzman starts the lecture with an introduction to pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Professor Saltzman talks about the concept of dose-response. He introduces different routes of drug administration and how they affect drug distribution and bioavailability (i.e., intravenous, oral, and sublingual routes). First-pass drug metabolism by the liver is also identified as an important source of drug degradation. Finally, modeling the body as a well-stirred vessel, Professor Saltzman explains the first-order rate equation: C = (M0/V)*e-kt, that can be used calculate the amount of drug in the body (M) as a function of time (t) and a rate constant (k); and the equation for drug half-life: t = ln(2/k).

00:00 - Chapter 1. Introduction to Drug Delivery
07:13 - Chapter 2. Relationships Between Drug Dosage and Biological Response
12:21 - Chapter 3. Injections for Drug Delivery
28:47 - Chapter 4. Oral Drug Delivery
41:25 - Chapter 5. Drug Bioavailability

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Spring 2008.