Sterile compounding education
Hands-on aseptic technique, cleanroom behavior, environmental controls, documentation, quality assurance, and competency assessment for future practitioners.
Core foundationUT Tyler College of Pharmacy · A vision for what comes next
Where sterile practice meets the next generation of therapy.
A center designed to teach the science of safe preparation, investigate better ways to deliver complex medicines, and prepare pharmacy teams for therapies that are increasingly precise, time-sensitive, and personal.
Aspirational concept; programs and services would phase in as funding, partnerships, and authorizations are established.
Illustrative concept visualization · not an existing facility
Learn → investigate → translateOne connected environment for people, process, and patient-specific therapies.
12,000–16,500 NSFearly core planning envelope
Education + researchbuilt on sterile practice and quality
Advanced therapeuticscell and gene therapy readiness
Phased by designtheranostics and cyclotron as options
The vision
A center that connects disciplines around the therapy.
Build a place where rigorous sterile practice becomes a platform for discovery, workforce preparation, and responsible translation of advanced medicines.
Compounding is the anchor, not the boundary. The Center would bring pharmacists, technicians, scientists, engineers, clinicians, and learners together to solve real problems in preparation, quality, handling, delivery, and access.
LearnPractice with feedback in realistic environments.
InvestigateTest processes, devices, and quality systems.
TranslateMove evidence into safer, better workflows.
What the Center could do
One platform. Several connected capabilities.
Explore the proposed capabilities by stage. The core builds enduring teaching and research capacity; specialized clinical and manufacturing activities require separate authorization and operational readiness.
Hazardous drug and high-risk practice
Teach containment, exposure prevention, device selection, spill response, decontamination, and safe handling across pharmacy and patient-care workflows.
Core foundationComplex sterile formulations
Study preparation challenges involving parenteral nutrition, pediatric and neonatal dosing, ophthalmics, preservative-free preparations, and delivery devices.
Core foundationApplied quality and process research
Investigate aseptic workflow, contamination control, human factors, environmental monitoring, stability questions, automation, and medication-use systems.
Core foundationCell and gene therapy readiness
Develop education and research in chain of identity and custody, time-critical receipt, cryogenic storage, thawing, preparation simulation, and clinical handoffs.
Radiopharmacy and theranostics
Build toward radiopharmaceutical education, quality control, shielded manipulation, and targeted diagnostic / therapeutic workflows with radiation-safety partners.
Cyclotron-produced medicines
Evaluate on-site isotope production only if regional need, distribution economics, partners, licensing, staffing, and lifecycle costs support a viable case.
Long-horizon optionPersonalized preparation science
Explore how decision support, micro-batches, automation, and individualized data could shape future preparation—under validated processes and human governance.
Research horizonProfessional development and partnerships
Offer a home for continuing education, technician development, interdisciplinary workshops, practice-based projects, and workforce upskilling.
A signature learning experience
Follow a therapy from signal to safe use.
Use one connected workflow to teach the thinking, controls, and handoffs behind complex medicines—not just the manipulations at the workbench.
01 · IdentifyPatient and product
Clarify the need, order, source, product status, and time constraints.
02 · ReceiveVerify and protect
Confirm identity, custody, temperature, integrity, and appropriate storage.
03 · PrepareControl the process
Use the right environment, equipment, people, calculations, and documentation.
04 · AssureReview and release
Apply independent checks, quality evidence, traceability, and escalation pathways.
05 · LearnImprove the system
Debrief, study performance, and turn insight into safer practice.
Space that teaches and enables
A facility with visible learning and controlled workflows.
The early concept combines instructional environments, applied research, advanced therapy readiness, and spaces for collaboration. Areas shown in planning documents are program envelopes, not final room assignments.
Learn
Sterile compounding teaching suite
Purpose-designed cleanroom learning stations with ante / garbing practice, simulation, cleanroom observation, and equipment support.
Observe
Classroom, debrief room, and studio
Flexible instruction, video capture, case work, competency feedback, and demonstrations that do not require unnecessary entry into controlled areas.
Investigate
Process development and quality labs
Applied research in aseptic processes, analytical methods, environmental monitoring, formulation, human factors, and quality improvement.
Prepare
Advanced therapy readiness suite
Dedicated capacity for cell-therapy receiving, monitored cryogenic storage, identity / custody workflows, handling simulation, and preparation research.
Support
Materials, equipment, and facility backbone
Receiving and quarantine, released-material storage, clean / dirty support, waste holding, IT, monitoring, maintenance access, and equipment staging.
Expand
Radiopharmacy and cyclotron option
A separately studied controlled suite for shielded handling, radiochemistry, hot cells, QC, waste, and—if justified—a cyclotron production module.
Planning principle: separate people, material, product, waste, and maintenance flows. Keep instructional observation distinct from any regulated or radiation-controlled operation. Final layouts must be designed and qualified for the actual scope, equipment, and applicable requirements.
Research agenda
Questions that improve practice now—and build the next capability.
The research engine should be practical and collaborative: produce evidence that can improve reliability, training, access, and appropriate use of advanced therapies.
See the program brief01
Aseptic process science
First-air practices, workflow design, environmental monitoring, contamination control, equipment placement, and how people interact with the environment.
02
Formulation, compatibility, and delivery
Preparation and administration questions across complex infusions, pediatric dosing, ophthalmic therapies, pumps, tubing, and specialized dosage forms.
03
Human factors, training, and decision quality
Measure how simulation, feedback, check design, information access, and team communication affect reliability and professional judgment.
04
Advanced therapy operations
Study identity / custody, cryogenic logistics, time-critical handoffs, radiopharmaceutical workflows, and the quality systems needed around novel therapies.
05
Data and responsible automation
Prototype decision support, process analytics, and automation that aid pharmacists and technicians; retain human accountability, validation, and governance.
06
Access and resilient practice
Explore shortage response, rural and regional access, workforce readiness, and models that bring complex preparation expertise closer to patients.
Build in stages
Ambitious end state. Disciplined sequence.
Make the first phase independently valuable, while protecting the option to grow into more specialized work as partnerships and resources mature.
Program and feasibility
Confirm partners, operating model, site, utilities, room program, cost range, and decision ownership.
Core Center
Launch teaching cleanrooms, studios, research / quality labs, support spaces, and digital backbone.
Advanced therapeutics
Add dedicated cell-therapy readiness and radiopharmacy / theranostics capabilities when authorized and supported.
Cyclotron decision
Proceed only if demand, partners, licensing, staffing, logistics, and lifecycle economics form a credible case.
Cyclotron: preserve the option, earn the investment.
IAEA facility guidance describes a dedicated vault and support block alongside production, QC, access, storage, and radioactive-waste functions. The selected accelerator and isotope portfolio drive the actual scope, so this deserves its own feasibility and business case.
A shared platform
Designed for collaboration from the beginning.
The Center can connect UT Tyler's pharmacy education with health systems, clinical programs, research groups, manufacturers, technology partners, and regional workforce needs. These are potential collaboration pathways to define during planning—not commitments already secured.
Pharmacy and technician education
Health-system practice sites
Cell and gene therapy programs
Nuclear medicine and oncology
Research and quality scientists
Equipment and technology partners
Regional and rural health
Professional organizations
Read the working plans
Two briefs to take the conversation forward.
Download the program concept and the companion space / capital planning document. Both are planning materials for discussion and refinement.
Vision · Program
Facility & Program Brief
Purpose, organizing vision, program areas, signature learning cycle, initial facility concept, partnerships, governance, and development phases.
Space · Capital
Space Program & Capital Planning Brief
Preliminary area ranges, adjacencies, building systems, phased options, capital estimate structure, and decision gates—including a separate cyclotron path.
Planning and standards references
A vision worth building toward
Prepare people for medicines
that do not yet exist.
Start with a strong sterile-practice foundation. Bring the right partners together. Create room for discovery. Grow into advanced therapies when the science, need, and stewardship align.