Daniel Markl’s research focuses on the coupling of advanced measurement techniques with digital process and product design to improve the way medicines are made. He obtained a BSc (2010) and MSc (2012) in telematics with a focus on neural networks and a PhD (2015) in chemical engineering from Graz University of Technology. Daniel secured an Erasmus Mundus in 2010, which allowed him to study modelling and control system design for one year during his MSc at the Lund University. During his PhD he was employed by the Research Center Pharmaceutical Engineering (RCPE) GmbH, where he was in the group Process and Manufacturing Science and involved in several projects at the interface of pharmaceutical engineering, materials science and process modelling. He continued as Senior Scientist and Scientific Project Leader at RCPE after completing his PhD. In 2016 he joined Professor Zeitler’s group (Terahertz Applications Group) as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Cambridge. Daniel worked for two years in the Terahertz Applications Group before becoming a Chancellor’s Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde in the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (SIPBS).

Daniel is Associate Director at the Centre for Continuous Manufacturing and Advanced Crystallisation (CMAC) - check out the Centre and Research Activities at CMAC: www.cmac.ac.uk

My research focuses on the coupling of small-scale experiments, advanced measurement techniques and digital process and product design to improve the way medicines are made. The lab’s multidisciplinary research focuses on drug product manufacturing and in particular on the manufacturing of pharmaceutical tablets. Our research aims to provide the fundamental understanding that is needed for the design of future medications, where the release behaviour and the quality is designed into the solid dosage form. The lab particularly focuses on:

• Continuous manufacturing: The pharmaceutical industry is introducing continuous manufacturing coupled with real-time release testing to deliver higher quality medicines more effectively to patients. Both patients and manufacturers will benefit from this transition through lower manufacturing costs, better control over product quality, higher flexibility in response to market demands, and the facilitation of more complex medications in an increasingly challenging economic environment. We aim to develop a scientifically sound understanding of the physical structure of the solid oral dosage forms, which is needed for the manufacture of 21st century high-quality medication with targeted release behaviour. Our research will develop the fundamental basis for linking raw material attributes, critical process parameters and critical quality attributes for continuous manufacturing of solid oral dosage forms. 
• Innovative process analysers: Accurate and continuous monitoring of processes has significant benefits for the pharmaceutical industry as it has the potential to reduce the cost of manufacturing through limiting waste and speeding up the development process whilst enhancing the product quality. This can only be achieved by the use of innovative process analysers which are capable of assessing the quality of a large number of samples in a short period of time. We aim to develop cutting-edge technologies for at-line/on-line and in-line monitoring of critical quality attributes, which are currently not accessible. One of the main technologies in our research is terahertz imaging and spectroscopy as it has outstanding characteristics in terms of its ability to penetrate in the majority of pharmaceutical materials and its measurement speed. 
• Digitally designed drug products: We aim to develop modelling approaches coupled with experimental methods that enable digital and rapid formulation design of pharmaceutical tablets through the coupling of process and product models. This includes the characterising and mathematical description of particle, granular material and compact characteristics that facilitate the development of models of every step involved in the dissolution process.

Check out the group website on TheMarklLab.com

Has expertise in:

• Material characterisation of solid dosage forms using various advanced technologies (i.e. optical coherence tomography, terahertz imaging and spectroscopy, X-ray computed tomography).
• Pharmaceutical engineering inclduing compaction process, hot-melt extrusion, fluid-bed and pan coating.
• Advanced data processing using machine learning principles.
• Mechanistic modelling of disintegration process (swelling and liquid imbibition process).
• In-line and on-line process monitoring.