Education

10.492 Biosensors

Course Description:
This module will acquaint students with approaches to detection and quantification of biological molecules for diverse purposes ranging from medical diagnostics to environmental monitoring to food safety to defense. Topics will include sensing platforms, devices and instrumentation, biomolecular engineering of probe molecules, quantitative evaluation and comparison of biosensors, design trade-offs and private sector considerations (markets, intellectual property, FDA requirements and approval process, translational process). Two problem sets and a group design project will give students the opportunity to apply concepts from kinetics, thermodynamics, separations,transport, fluid mechanics, process development, and unit operations to current problems with commercial relevance.

10.65 Chemical Reactor Engineering

Course Description:
Fundamentals of chemically reacting systems with emphasis on synthesis of chemical kinetics and transport phenomena. Topics include kinetics of gas, liquid, and surface reactions; quantum chemistry; transition state theory; surface adsorption, diffusion, and desorption processes; mechanism and kinetics of biological processes; mechanism formulation and sensitivity analysis. Reactor topics include nonideal flow reactors, residence time distribution and dispersion models; multiphase reaction systems; nonlinear reactor phenomena. Examples are drawn from different applications, including heterogeneous catalysis, polymerization, combustion, biochemical systems, and materials processing.