Department Personnel
Associate Professor Antonios Armaou | Current Research Topics
Current senior theses topics
Pharmacodynamics and Pharmakinetics Models for Cancer Treatment
The project focuses the development of spatially distributed models associated with the transport of from the blood vessels to brain tumors through the interstitial fluid. The project motivation stems from current complexities associated with how to attain high dosages to brain tumors through oral uptake. The project will have two phases. The first will be a critical review of current articles in the open literature.
The second phase will focus on developing an accurate model of the pharmacodynamics employing Matlab. A working knowledge of programming will be a partial objective of the second phase. Upon the successful completion of the model, the simulation results will be analyzed and compared to available experimental results in the literature. The ultimate focus of the project is the development of an accurate pharmacokinetics model that can be employed to improve the current treatment strategies.
Download the pharmacodynamics and pharmakinetics models for cancer treatment.pdf
Available senior theses topics
Actuator Placement for Distributed Chemical Engineering Processes
Many industrially important processes in chemical engineering exhibit significant spatial variation due to intimate coupling between chemical reactions and fluid flow and thermal and mass transport. These processes are commonly plagued by actuator failure, after some time, due to their misplacement and the hostile process environment. The present project focuses on quantitatively addressing this issue of actuator placement for such chemical processes through the formulation and solution of optimization problems. This is a three-phase project; the latter two phases can be pursued in parallel.
Phase 1: Literature review of optimal placement approaches spanning chemical, mechanical and civil engineering. Laying the mathematical foundations for the project and defining individual objectives.
Phase 2: Laying the computational foundations for the project. A working knowledge of programming in Matlab will be a partial objective of this phase. A working knowledge of optimization will be the second objective of phase 2.
Phase 3: Solution of the optimal actuator placement problem and analysis of the results.
"The project has so far led to two presentations at AIChE Annual Meetings"
Download the actuator placement for distributed chemical engineering processes.pdf
Detailed Modeling of H.I.V. Progression
The project focuses on the quantitative mathematical description of the progression of HIV infection, at the animal and cell levels. The project has two phases. The first is primarily on the study of relevant articles in the open literature describing the biological events that take place during HIV infection. Subsequently a review of the open literature on modeling HIV infection will be pursued. In the second phase of this project, refining our previously developed models will be pursued followed by an analysis of the modeling results. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop an accurate description of HIV infection across all relevant levels, to be used for the development of efficient treatment strategies.
Download the detailed modeling of H.I.V. progression.pdf
Pharmacokinetics Modelling for H.I.V. Treatment Strategies
The project focuses on modeling the dynamics associated with the uptake of medication during treatment of H.I.V. infection. The primary focus will be on oral uptake (as compared to intravenous injection and inhalation). The project will have two phases. The first will be a critical review of current articles in the open literature. The second phase will focus on developing an accurate model of the pharmacodynamics employing Matlab. A working knowledge of programming will be a partial objective of the second phase.
Upon the successful completion of the model, the simulation results will be analyzed and compared to available experimental results in the literature. The ultimate focus of the project is the development of an accurate pharmacokinetics model that can be employed to improve the current treatment strategies.
"The project has so far led to one completed senior thesis and one presentation at AIChE Annual Meeting"
Download the pharmacokinetics modelling for H.I.V. treatment strategies.pdf
Application of Nonlinear Model Predictive Controllers to Chemical Processes
Model predictive controllers (MPC) are widely used by chemical industries to control complex processes. They are designed based on the efficient use of optimization algorithms to directly solve the control problem while including process operation constraints. Their success is due to the fact that such controllers can present a control strategy that is optimal with respect to operating costs while their design is intuitive.
One student is sought to participate in the development and application of MPC designs to representative chemical processes. The thesis will be primarily computational. For further details please contact me via e-mail.
Download the Application of Nonlinear Model Predictive Controllers to Chemical Processes.pdf