The course has a duration of 1500 hours, equivalent to
60 CFU. Each CFU corresponds to 25 hours,
dedicated to lectures, practical exercises, group work,
seminars, study and research activities for thesis writing
and individual preparation.



Master in Pharmaceutical Plant Design and Management

Classes are mainly held in italian and delivered online.

Prof. Sandri and Prof. Giberti

Introduction to pharmaceutical process engineering
  • Engineering principles applied to the pharmaceutical industry
  • Unit operations (mixing, granulation, drying, filtration, crystallization)
  • Extraction and purification (distillation, chromatography, ultrafiltration)
  • Production of sterile APIs (including HPAPIs) and finished sterile medicines
Advanced technologies for drug manufacturing
  • Bioreactors and technologies for biologics and biosimilars
  • Vaccine and cell therapy manufacturing in controlled environments
  • Single-Use Systems (SUS) for pharmaceutical manufacturing
Aseptic manufacturing
  • Introduction to microbiology
  • Annex 1: EU GMP guidelines for sterile medicinal products
  • Aseptic techniques and contamination prevention
  • Cleanrooms (ISO 14644-1) and HVAC systems
  • Sterilization/biodecontamination: filtration, autoclave, VHP
  • Qualification/validation: Media Fill Test, Smoke Studies
  • Isolators and RABS
Design and engineering of pharmaceutical plants
  • Concept/basic/detailed design, regulatory references, trends (ISPE and others)
  • Design and layout (HPAPI, biological agents, BSL 1–4)
  • Space optimization (pressure differentials, laminar flows, HVAC)
  • Water systems (WFI, Purified Water, Pure Steam)
  • Continuous vs Batch Manufacturing
  • Sizing, energy efficiency, and sustainability
  • Project management, commissioning, FAT/SAT
Aseptic techniques and validation of aseptic processes
  • Sterility testing and contamination control
  • Environmental sampling and microbiological monitoring
  • Endotoxin and particulate testing
  • Isolator decontamination/validation
  • Terminal sterilization and aseptic filling validation
Control systems and quality in pharmaceutical manufacturing
  • Validation and qualification (IQ, OQ, PQ)
  • Real-time monitoring and PAT
  • Risk analysis and safety engineering
  • Chemical (HPAPI) and microbiological (viral) contamination management
Automation and digitalization in the pharmaceutical industry
  • Industry 4.0/5.0 and digital transformation
  • Automation and robotics for sterile products
  • SCADA and MES
  • Machine Learning and AI for process optimization
  • Data integrity and document management
Logistics, supply chain, and industrial regulation
  • Traceability and serialization
  • Supply chain and production flow optimization