(366l) Ocular Drug Delivery and Unsteady-State Mass Transfer: A Project-Based Learning Approach Using Comsol Multiphysics

Project-Based Learning is a pedagogical technique in which students complete specifically- designed projects that aid students in their mastery and understanding of course material. While these projects may be hands-on in nature, software packages such as COMSOL Multiphysics have enabled the development of simulation-based projects. The simulation-based project described here is an unsteady-state mass transfer study regarding the ocular drug delivery characteristics associated with multi-layered ophthalmic (contact) lenses assigned to third-year undergraduate students in the Heat and Mass Transfer course offered at The Cooper Union.

Ocular drug delivery systems, such as a drug-loaded contact lenses, are used to obtain therapeutic effects for medical conditions of the eye. While contact lenses have commonly been used as an occular drug delivery vehicle, surface modifications, such as coatings, can be used to control the drug release behavior. A study by Pimenta, et al., (Diffusion-Based Design of Multi-Layered Ophthalmic Lenses for Controlled Drug Release) was used as the basis for a simulation-based COMSOL Multiphysics project that was designed to teach third-year undergraduate chemical engineering students the principles of unsteady-state mass transfer and diffusion [1]. While this topic is covered in the Heat and Mass Transfer course offered at The Cooper Union, associated analytical solutions and numerical methods techniques are not covered in this course. Therefore, COMSOL Multiphysics served as an ideal pedagogical vehicle to provide students with a engaging learning experience regarding this topic.

A detailed description of this COMSOL Mutiphysics project as well as representative graphical samples and solutions obtained from completed student work will be provided.

[1] Pimenta AFR, Serro AP, Paradiso P, Saramago B, Colaço R (2016) Diffusion-Based Design of Multi-Layered Ophthalmic Lenses for Controlled Drug Release. PLoS ONE 11(12): e0167728. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0167728