Professor Fogler has graduated 33 Ph.D. students from his research group and has published more than 190 research publications. He and his students are well-known for their work in porous media, which encompasses a number of fundamental chemical engineering areas, specifically; reaction engineering, colloids, separations, and multiphase flow. Research topics include: flow, reaction, and precipitation; kinetics of wax deposition; fused chemical reactions; gellation kinetics; asphaltene characterization and remediation; colloidal phenomena; and catalyzed dissolution of minerals. In addition to funding by government agencies, an industrial affiliates program consisting of major oil companies has supported the research on flow and reaction in porous media for the past 21 years. A number of research results are now being used in industrial applications.
Pharmacokinetics of acute toxicity
We have developed and are developing system based kinetic models to study cases of acute toxicity in humans. Currently we have definitive model for cobra bites, (as referenced by the Canadian Zoological site) and currently research topics are related to deadly bites of other snakes and species. A five compartment model (stomach, gastrointestinal track, liver, central fluid, and muscle) has been developed to describe the concentration time trajectories of alcohol and acetaldehyde in the blood and body. The model accurately predicts these trajectories. Future work will focus on populations that are ALDH2 deficient, in either ALDH2 x 1/2 or ALDH2 x 2/2 genes.
In these studies, Scott and his students developed the first self consistent model to describe both the alcohol and acealdehyde concentration in the blood as a function of time (“A Physiologically Based Model for Ethanol and Acetaldehyde Metabolism in Human Beings,” Alcohol, 35, p1 (2005)). Other research in this area is on the mathematic modeling of venomous snake bites. Snakes with different types of toxins (neurotoxin, hemotoxin and myotoxin) are being studied. To date models for prediction of death have been developed for the cobra (a neurotoxin) and the Russell’s Viper (hemotoxin). Current work is focusing on the Fer-de-Lance which is a myotoxin and the Gabon Viper which involves diffusion, reaction, and degradation of muscle tissue.