Chapter 1 - Research and Project Proposal

This week in lab, we learned about what hydrogels were, methods of creating them, and how they are commonly used. The project was introduced, and we began brainstorming ideas for the project. Our current idea is to use hydrogels prepared using various methods to create a multi-stage oral drug delivery method designed to provide the drug at a constant rate to the person, despite the body's constant absorption of the drug. We also decided on what materials we would need to complete the experiment, and which ones we would need to order ourselves. We ordered sodium alginate and pipettes to perform the experiments, and contacted a member of the chemistry department to meet up about using the department's equipment. We plan to test the rate of delivery of the drug using a UV spectrometer, measuring the absorption when dye is used to represent the drug that would be delivered. The project proposal was also completed, giving us a better idea of how we plan to manage our time.