<p>I am currently a Chemical Engineering major. I am thinking about going into the pharmaceutical industry in order to develop and produce medicine. In order to build my knowledge up for this industry I was thinking on getting my specialization in biochemical. Maybe one day I will get a PhD and actually do research for new drugs perhaps. I am also interested in genetic engineering, gene therapy and tissue engineering in case I change my mind about pharmaceuticals. </p>
<p>The thing is I noticed genetic engineering, gene therapy, tissue engineering and pharmaceutical is also under biomedical engineering and sometimes biology majors. Lately I am concerned if getting a B.S. in chemical engineering is appropriate for these fields (biotechnology in general). I noticed these disciplines aren't necessarily considered part of the traditional chemical engineering study so I am worried that what I learn in the next 3 years (going to be a sophomore) won't prepare me for these disciplines. </p>
<p>What do you guys think? Think I am going in the same path except I should try to take some bio and BME classes in college? I really like chemistry and math but I'm also interested in how the human body works too.</p>
<p>Well it depends on your school. As a chemE major you can go into any field you want too, just be able to take classes that will fulfill your wants and desires for the future. When you have a chance to take electives, look in the bio and chemistry depts and see whats offered. </p>
<p>I know this because like you, I also want to do research in the medical field and will be trying to transfer into a chemE program. I want to get a graduate degree in materials engineering with a bio-materials emphasis. </p>
<p>as an engineer, other scientist won’t be able to do what you do. you could design artificial limbs or engineer a drug delivery device. You can do what they do, manipulating chemical compounds or studying molecular interactions. </p>
<p>personally i wouldn’t choose a specific program in chemE. I would take the required chemE classes and minor in something like biochemistry. With the broader background you will be prepared for everything…and it will be beneficial in case you find out you don’t like medical work!</p>
<p>Definitely get the biochem minor. A BS in ChE is a very respectable degree, however, if you are looking to take a path into research, you will need a background in biochem and molecular bio. As you will have gen. chem. and o. chem. out of the way, a biochemistry minor should only require you to take a general bio sequence, a biochem sequence, and a biochem lab. If a biochem lab isn’t apart of the minor, definitely take one on the side. Having experience with mol bio techniques and cell culture will make you competitive for research positions and advanced degree programs.</p>
<p>Also, if your ChE department offers it, you should look into taking a bioprocessing course. You’ll learn about bioreactors and purification techniques which are very crucial elements in biotech manufacturing. It’s a fairly good mix of ChE principles and biochemistry. Plus, you might even decide that you want to go into process development instead of research.</p>
<p>A degree in ChemE works but you are better off getting a degree in Chemistry or BioChem. ChemE deals more or less with process control and applying chemistry to large scale fabrication. However the lines between ChemE and Chemistry become blurred as you delve into higher degrees (PhD).</p>
<p>So should I assume that if I want to do research in pharmaceuticals and drugs that a grad program in chemical engineering will teach me the things I need to know? What confuses me the most is that for Biomedical engineering, Biological engineering, chemical engineering, chemistry, biochemistry, etc it says such industries to go into with these are pharmaceuticals. Yet all these majors are not the same. So is pharmaceuticals so broad that many did individuals with different majors can do the same job? This is what worries me the most because I undertook chemE because I like math and chem and plus I like creating things. I was also under the impression that I could go into the fields with this degree since it says so on many websites. </p>
<p>I notice many of you advise me to pursue biochem at least on a minor level. Is it correct to assume that taking biochemical eng electives and bioreactor and bioprocessing courses won’t be suffice?</p>
<p>veto - Time to pay a visit to your Department Offiice and/or talk to a Professor. They should have a prety good idea of how to direct you, plus you can ask follow up questions and perhaps strike up a long-term mentoring situation. Please have this done by Tuesday, and be ready to report back to the class how the meeting went. OK,. I’m kidding about the last part. Have the report by W, not Tuesday!</p>
<p>veto77, pharmaceuticals is not all research. Chemical engineers play a pretty big role in scaling up production and purification processes from a lab level to a manufacturing level. They do some “research” in optimizing these processes. Taking a bioprocessing course will not suffice as preparation biomedical research, but help you understand the manufacturing side of the business. </p>
<p>Mostly, research is done by those with Biochem, Biology, MolBio, and BME degrees, because these majors tend to have the most exposure to biological methods and theories that are desired by principle scientists. Being a ChemE major will not adequately prepare you to be a candidate for most biomedical research labs, as you really dont take many bio classes. A Biochem minor should supplement this deficiency. </p>
<p>If I were you, I would take a look at job postings listed by big pharma/biotech companies like Genentech, Genzyme, Merck, Pfizer, etc. They list what exactly they’re looking for skills-wise and education-wise. You should then use this information to tailor your program to become marketable for these positions.</p>
<p>Veto - I was in your shoes 2 years ago. What I did was I went and talked to one of the professors and turned out that there was a Bioprocess Engineering concentration where I’d be taking 6 additional Biology classes as well as 2 Bioprocess Engineering courses.</p>
<p>I believe that was really good preparation to what I want to do with my ChemE degree, and I was right. The past two summers I got two internships, one was at a biomedical engineering company dealing with implant design and the other was at a pharmaceutical company dealing with vaccine technology.</p>