Michelle Zhao
Looking through our problem statements, idea clusters, and end-of-semester videos, the industry with the biggest problem to me is the pharmaceutical industry which correlates with our problem statement 2. Regardless of focusing on this industry, my team is still able to focus on idea clusters and themes that relate to inventory management, using technology to improve processes and quality control. While the food industry is in need of these same ideas, the pharmaceutical industry is currently looking for a way to standardize medicine tracking, and dendrites can fill this need. Likewise, medicine is such an integral part of many people’s lives, and it deserves the dedicated attention my team can give. I hope to continue contributing my knowledge of the supply chain to this project. Finding low-cost methods of efficiently tracking inventory is exactly what they teach us in the supply chain management program. I’ve worked on case studies in the past that have to do with how certain tag manufacturers use RFIDs to track medicines. I’m sure I can pull similar ideas from there and apply them to our project with dendrites. I believe my business knowledge in addition to my teams’ engineering backgrounds will help us develop a well-rounded solution that can be applied in the real world.
Keith Dixon
After going through the other phases and coming up with our problem statements, idea clusters, and our team video, the pharmaceutical industry seems to need the most help. The tracking that is currently being done can not track medication when transferred into smaller bottles. Being able to track medication throughout the whole process from batching to consumer would help the stop of illegal selling and sharing the medication distributed. Even though professor Kozicki is sponsored by the USDA, taking another approach and moving into the space of pharmaceuticals could be very helpful for the ongoing battle with the misuse of these prescriptions. I hope to contribute the same amount or even more time then I did last semester to this project. I am glad to be back for the second semester of this project and to hopefully see it come to life. The goal with this project for me is to complete the remaining four phases and to present something to professor Kozicki that he loves and would be willing to start moving forward with our idea. My experience with other research and projects allows me to use these skills to get phases done more efficiently and on time. I have high hopes for our IDendrites team and what the future phases have in store for us.
Tony Zortman
This technology is a logistical solution to a problem experienced by all consumers. The story of stuff ends in the land fill however tacking the problem from the source will give consumers a much better idea of their footprint in procuring everyday items. Currently people are fooled into not thinking any further than their Amazon shopping cart or the grocery shelf. A conscious consumer has benefits beyond knowing their carbon footprint, upon realizing that most of the items on the store shelf such as fruit are not sourced in the United States begs the question “Why are the profits being sucked out of producing countries?” When the reality of exploitation of overseas labor is brought to light the average American may realize the futility of our current political system, chiefly what is behind the curtain of American tax dollars. If American’s accept an accelerating treadmill of consumption without regard for the laborer’s backs that are propping up the status quo, the reigning aristocracy will enjoy ever expanding power. It is our theory that that an educated public will alter their habits to be more environmentally and socially responsible. The value I bring to the team is finding niche ways to deploy the dendrite tracking technology.
Last semester we focused our research on two industries: pharmaceuticals and food production and distribution. Of the two industries I think pharmaceuticals is more important and prevalent. As I discovered in my research last semester, the United States congress passed a bill in 2013 requiring a uniform method of tracking and tracing development and distribution of medication in the United States. Since the method of identification is new, advanced, secure, and incredibly unique, I see no reason why it is not an ideal candidate for application. The bill entitled, the Drug Supply Chain Security Act of 2013, requires the tracking method to be implemented by 2023, which is next year.
Up until this point, very little progress has been made. The only information I came across was from University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA, who performed a pilot study called BRUINChain. The program proved 100% effective in determining whether the bottle were or were not the control drug, therefore proving the concept’s efficacy. The program implemented for the study is very similar to the method of tracking we intend on implementing. Both our project and the pilot program have a distributed ledger system similar to the blockchain for secured, anonymous recording of patient information. The largest difference is our intention to use dendrites instead of barcodes for scanning and information association. Dr. Kozicki has explained in his initial paper about the technology for printing dendrites that because of their branching, tree-like structure as they grow, due to entropy, they form more randomly as they grow.
I hope to be able to find a useful method of implementing the tracking technology for the medical industry. This application is the most relevant, in my opinion, because of the importance a system, like that being proposed, has for public safety. As we are now well into the second year of the pandemic, I think the public has become more conscientious of public health and safety.
After looking back at all the work and research we as a team have compiled for the dendrites project including the interviews and where Dr.K is headed with the project it seems that it’s headed into the information tracking aspect of it and the security it entails. As we move forward as a team I’m sure that would be the main focus of the main project, but I myself would see this chance to expand it into collectables.
As the security of this project has such extraordinary potential and in such a noninvasive way, for me that is the most import part of this problem space as we move forward and explore the materials of which we can use to apply the dendrites onto items expands the use of them exponentially as we expand to newer materials.
I am hoping to contribute on how the dendrites themselves are applied on collectables that they don’t affect their value as well as finding materials that would not be corrosive to them, as a M.E. and I.E. student I am sure that I would find a way to both implement them on objects with enough flexibility that it would be easily scalable and easier to switch to from other authenticator methods and security
Shreshth Dembla
Looking back on the problem statements and idea clusters we developed, the most intriguing area is the pharmaceutical industry. I would like to focus on the security and tracking implications that the pharmacies need to ensure the quality of their service.
With this industry, the team would be addressing the ideas of inventory management, quality control, systemized tracking, and using new technology to bolster current processes. The farming industry needs to address a similar problem and would require a focus on many of the aspects listed above, however, the need and opportunity in the pharmaceutical industry is both urgent and unique. Medicine is such a necessary part of many people’s lives and ensuring the security of this industry can help protect those people. Not only is there an important need, but there is also a critical opportunity: because of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act of 2013 (DSCSA), the pharmaceutical industry is in need of a supply chain overhaul and Dr. Kozicki’s dendritic technology is uniquely poised to be a possible solution.
While the majority of my skills come from a technical background, I would like to be able to learn more about the supply chain and various aspects of managing and securing it. I hope to be able to contribute my work ethic and curiosity to allow for this team to successfully present an idea to Dr. Kozicki. I believe that our idea could help the pharmaceutical industry and propel Dr. Kozicki’s technology forward in a new market.