Sustainability Hub: SDG3 – Health and Wellbeing
Summary
TLDRThe video script highlights the role of chemical engineering in advancing health and well-being, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It underscores the unmet needs in areas like oncology and emphasizes the importance of developing efficient, accelerated, and sustainable processes for drug manufacturing. The script also mentions the significant contribution of Professor Robert Langer in lipid nanoparticle formulation, which is pivotal to mRNA COVID vaccines, showcasing the impact of chemical engineering on global health.
Takeaways
- 🌐 SDG3 emphasizes health and well-being, highlighting the current global focus on health due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 🏥 Despite significant efforts against COVID-19, there are concerns that other diseases like cancer are not receiving the same level of attention or resources.
- 💊 There is an unmet need for better medicines and therapies to combat serious diseases that continue to affect populations worldwide.
- 🔬 Chemical engineers play a crucial role in developing and scaling up manufacturing processes for new therapies more efficiently and sustainably.
- 🛠️ The development cycle for new drugs is lengthy, and chemical engineers can help accelerate this process to get effective drugs to patients faster.
- 🔬 Chemical engineers work alongside biologists and other scientists to develop new synthesis pathways for drug production, aiming to reduce complexity and environmental impact.
- 💊 Most new drugs are small molecules that require complex chemical synthesis, where chemical engineering can improve efficiency and sustainability.
- 🌿 Chemical engineering can lead to cleaner processes with reduced energy, solvent, and water usage in drug production.
- 🏆 Professor Robert Langer's work in chemical engineering, particularly in lipid nanoparticle formulation, has been recognized with prestigious awards and is central to mRNA COVID vaccines.
- 🌟 The mRNA COVID vaccines represent a significant application of chemical engineering in public health, impacting the formulation and dosing for billions worldwide.
Q & A
What is the main focus of SDG3 in the UN Sustainability Framework?
-SDG3 focuses on health and well-being, emphasizing the importance of health in the context of the current global pandemic and other diseases like cancer.
How does the current pandemic highlight the need for better medicines and therapies?
-Despite the rapid response to COVID-19 with vaccines and treatments, there are still large sections of the population affected by other diseases like cancer that feel neglected, indicating an unmet need for better medicines and therapies.
What role can chemical engineers play in addressing the unmet needs in healthcare?
-Chemical engineers can contribute by developing more efficient processes for manufacturing and scaling up therapies, accelerating the development cycle of new drugs, and creating cleaner and more cost-effective synthesis pathways.
What is the typical duration of the development cycle for new drugs?
-The development cycle for new drugs can be extremely long, ranging from 7 to 14 years.
How can chemical engineers help to accelerate the drug development process?
-Chemical engineers can look at different technological approaches to accelerate the process times between different stages of drug development.
What is the significance of small molecules in the context of new drugs?
-The majority of new drugs are small molecules of greater complexity that involve many stages of chemical synthesis, which chemical engineers can optimize to reduce stages, energy consumption, solvent, and water usage.
Who is Professor Robert Langer and what was his contribution recognized by?
-Professor Robert Langer from MIT was awarded the Queen's Award from the Royal Academy of Engineering for his chemical engineering work on formulation systems, particularly lipid nanoparticle formulation.
What is the connection between lipid nanoparticle formulation and mRNA COVID vaccines?
-Lipid nanoparticle formulation is the prime technology for the mRNA COVID vaccines, which have been crucial in the global response to the pandemic.
What impact did Professor Langer's work have on the world's population?
-Professor Langer's work on lipid nanoparticle formulation has contributed to the effective formulation and dosing of billions of people worldwide through mRNA COVID vaccines.
What are the key aspects chemical engineers consider when working on new synthesis pathways for drugs?
-Chemical engineers consider reducing the number of stages, energy consumption, solvent usage, and water usage, while delivering products more effectively with cleaner and more cost-effective processes.
How can the work of chemical engineers in healthcare contribute to the UN's SDG3?
-Chemical engineers can contribute to SDG3 by creating more efficient and sustainable processes for drug development and manufacturing, which can lead to better health outcomes and well-being for the global population.
Outlines
🧪 Accelerating Health and Well-being Through Chemical Engineering
The script discusses the significant role of chemical engineering in advancing health and well-being, particularly in the context of the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 3. It highlights the ongoing pandemic and the disparity in attention given to diseases like cancer compared to COVID-19. The speaker, a chemical engineer, emphasizes the need for more efficient and sustainable processes to develop and scale up therapies for lethal diseases. The script also touches on the lengthy development cycle of new drugs and how chemical engineers can expedite this process. Furthermore, it discusses the importance of chemical synthesis in drug production and the potential for innovation in this area to reduce environmental impact and improve cost-effectiveness. The mention of Professor Robert Langer's contribution to lipid nanoparticle formulation, which is pivotal in the mRNA COVID vaccines, underscores the impact one individual can have on global health.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡SDG3
💡Pandemic
💡COVID-19
💡Oncology
💡Chemical Engineering
💡Unmet Need
💡Therapeutics
💡Manufacture
💡Sustainable
💡Development Cycle
💡Small Molecules
💡Lipid Nanoparticle Formulation
Highlights
SDG3 focuses on health and well-being, emphasizing the importance of health during the current pandemic.
Despite efforts against COVID-19, there is a perceived lack of attention to other pandemics, such as oncology.
There are unmet or poorly met needs for better medicines and therapies to combat lethal diseases.
The speaker has been involved in chemical engineering for 30-40 years, aiming to improve manufacturing and scaling of therapies.
Chemical engineers aim to produce processes more efficiently, sustainably, and at an accelerated pace.
The development cycle for new drugs is lengthy, and chemical engineers can help shorten it.
Chemical engineering can facilitate the rapid introduction and scaling of effective drugs to the mass market.
New drugs are often complex small molecules requiring multi-stage chemical synthesis.
Chemical engineers work with other scientists to develop new synthesis pathways for efficiency.
The goal is to reduce stages, energy, solvent, and water usage in drug production.
Efficient processes lead to cleaner, more cost-effective, and faster drug delivery.
Professor Robert Langer's work in chemical engineering on formulation systems is recognized with a prestigious award.
Langer's lipid nanoparticle formulation technology is key to mRNA COVID vaccines.
Langer's contribution has had a significant impact on the formulation and dosing of billions worldwide.
Chemical engineering plays a crucial role in addressing SDG3 by improving health and well-being through innovative drug development.
The transcript underscores the importance of collaboration between chemical engineers and other scientific disciplines.
Technological advances in chemical engineering are essential for accelerating the development and distribution of life-saving drugs.
Transcripts
[Music]
sdg3
as uh
as is described in the un sustainability
framework
is all about health and well-being
and today
we all appreciate the importance of
health with the current pandemic and
covid19
despite the
enormous effort and reaction to
providing solutions and vaccines for for
covid 19. there are still large sections
of the population who feel there are
other pandemics that are just not
getting the publicity the treatment or
the success
of covid19 and a particular area would
be oncology or cancer
so today there are still
many
areas where we have unmet
need or poorly met need and require
better
medicines better therapies to eradicate
some of these
soul-destroying and lethal
diseases that continue to propagate
around the world as a chemical engineer
i've been involved in the last 30 or 40
years
in trying to produce processes for the
manufacture and scale up the therapies
and i i'm
very focused on doing that
in a more efficient more accelerated and
more sustainable manner as we think
about sdg3
health and well-being chemical engineers
have a couple of particular roles they
can play
on the one hand the development cycle
for new drugs to support health and
well-being are extremely long 7 to 14
years
and the chemical engineer can be looking
at how to accelerate that process
and get
new effective drugs into patients
quicker
and then scaled up and into the the mass
market even quicker still
by adopting different technological
approaches that
greatly accelerate the process
times
between the different stages
secondly
the majority of new drugs that are going
into patients
are small molecules of greater
complexity involving many stages of
chemical synthesis
and a chemical engineer working with
biologists bioscientists and
and discovery chemists can be thinking
of new synthesis pathways to reduce the
number of stages reduce the energy
consumption reduce the solvent usage
required reduce the water usage required
and
and deliver products more effectively
with cleaner processes that are more
cost effective
in a quicker time professor robert
langer of mit
was recently awarded the queen's award
from the royal academy of engineering
and that was in recognition of his
chemical engineering work on formulation
systems in principle
the the most significant of which is
lipid
nanoparticle formulation
and this technology is currently the
prime technology
for the mrna
covid vaccines
that have
been demanded
in response to the crisis
so
that is
one individual making a huge
contribution to the effective
formulation and dosing of billions of
people in the world
[Music]
you
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