Megan's+Bend+Research+Reflection


 * Megan Bernard**
 * Bend Research Lab Reflection**

While taking the tour at Bend Research, there many interesting things that I had found out. I thought it was cool that the workers had put a Sponge Bob Squarepants character on each machine, since the laboratories seemed more serious, the stickers added some comedy to the atmosphere. Another odd element I thought was neat was that large Nalgene bottles were used to store liquid solvents. I had also noticed that Bend Research uses many of the same chemicals that we have been working with and have learned about in our class, such as sodium chloride, carbon 13, helium, and phosphorous. It was interesting to learn about the thermal analysis lab and how it is similar to what we have done in our labs, which was to measure how much energy it takes to heat a certain powder. The powder X-ray machine was impressive, as well as learning about how it has a gun that fires x-rays in a powder to see if crystals had formed and whether they were salt crystals or from their compound of interest. The two huge mass spectroscopies they had were impressive as well. I did not know that there were different types of mass spectroscopies, such as a triple quad and ones that have longer pathways than others. It was interesting to hear about how Bend Research uses Mass Spectroscopy to figure out what was in a polymer that should not have been there in the first place. They have a really impressive set of instruments out there!

The chromatography lab seemed like it would be a little packed for the workers, but was cool to see the auto sampler for all the vials of samples they each use and the pump that puts the solvents in each sample periodically without needing supervision. I also thought that it was really interesting to hear about how Bend Research tests to see how good a polymer would be to go through a human body for medicine. They have a glass cylinder that a product is put in the bottom of, and then a “membrane” is put on top of the product. After that, solvent is poured in the cylinder to observe how much product, if any, goes up through the “membrane.” The NMR lab was amusing as well. The NMR spectrum alone costs $800,000! Then the probe that sits in the bottom and middle of the NMR spectrum needs replaced about every ten years, just because improvements are made that often on the probes. The information from our guide was similiar to what Carol had told our class about NMR spectroscopy. The NMR spectrum uses a very strong homogenous magnetic field with copper coil and liquid nitrogen. It is used by putting drops of a sample, that has been dissolved in fluid, in the middle of the magnetic field to the probe at the bottom of the spectrum. The nuclei, such as carbon 13, then gets zapped with the right radio frequency and spins in the X and Y planes on the copper coil. This allows us to figure out what the structure of the compound is and how concentrated it is as well. Franz did a nice job explaining how NMR works, I thought. Isn't it cool to see a real one? I can wave my hands and show you pictures in class, but being there, looking at how huge they are, is an experience you can't get any other way.

Some of the basic information of Bend Research is that 100 people were hired last year to work there and 270 people are currently working there now. Fifteen years ago, only 16 people had been working at Bend Research. Many of the employees at Bend Research have a Bachelor’s degree in chemistry, physics, or biology. There are also a few workers who have Ph.D.’s or are engineers. The facility only has clean-ups two to three times a year, which is much less than I had expected it would have been. Bend Research had actually started as a membrane company, and then their membrane technology that had helped to coat pills made them become more pharmaceutical. Some of the techniques that the people at Bend Research use are spray dry diffusion, which makes crystal product absorb in the body and is also their “bread and butter.” Also, they have made small wax beads, which were first made with a cotton candy machine, that dissolve in a drink for humans to swallow, rather than a huge pill that would have been difficult to swallow. Thanks for a nice summary.