Case Study: University of Oklahoma enhances pharmaceutical PhD training with COMSOL simulation

University of Oklahoma adds simulation to its PhD curriculum in 2014 with Comsol

The University of Oklahoma College of Pharmacy faced a challenge common in pharmaceutical sciences education: a lack of simulation training for PhD students, despite the industry's growing need for these skills to improve drug development processes. To address this gap and better prepare graduates, they partnered with Comsol to integrate quantitative systems pharmacology and multiphysics modeling into their curriculum using the COMSOL Multiphysics® software.

Comsol provided the simulation platform and methodology that enabled Professor Roberto Abbiati to create a course teaching students to build multiscale pharmacokinetic models. The solution equipped students with valuable skills in numerical analysis and the finite element method, allowing them to move beyond simplistic compartmental models and analyze complex scenarios like drug penetration in tumors. As a result, the program now produces graduates who are more attractive to pharmaceutical companies and capable of using Comsol's tools to gain critical insight into drug behavior within the human body, ultimately supporting more efficient and informed drug development.

University of Oklahoma