Founded by Dr. Peter Byron (Emeritus Professor) in 1988, the VCU Aerosol Research Group (ARG) conducts innovative research in the areas of drug delivery to the lung and nose.
Our work spans a wide variety of research areas including optimal design and evaluation of aerosol drug delivery formulations and devices; in vitro and in vivo characterization of inhaled drug products; clinical biopharmaceutics and pharmacology of novel drug molecules; regulatory sciences.
Importantly, ARG has a strong commitment to provide rigorous training to our undergraduate, professional and graduate students, together with post-doctoral scholars who pursue meritorious research under dedicated mentorship.
The group receives funding from the NIH, FDA and NSF, together with independent research foundations and the pharmaceutical industry.
Virginia Commonwealth University
School of Pharmacy
410 North 12th Street, Box 980533
Richmond, VA 23298-0533
USA
pharmacy.vcu.edu/pharmaceutics/
Dr. Hindle, in collaboration with Dr. Worth Longest (Department of Mechanical Engineering), combines computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with key in vitro characterization studies to develop novel aerosol inhaler concepts and investigate methods of testing pharmaceutical inhalers to better predict in vivo delivery efficiency.
Dr. Sakagami's research focuses on pulmonary biopharmaceutics and pharmacology of inhaled drugs and new experimental therapeutics for local and systemic delivery. His group has developed and employed several unique in vivo and in vitro lung systems to characterize pulmonary disposition (absorption, metabolism and clearance) and assess therapeutic potentials (pharmacology) of various molecules for inhalation, including corticosteroids, antibiotics, peptides, proteins and antibodies in the treatment of asthma, emphysema, cystic fibrosis, and certain systemic diseases.
Dr. da Rocha’s research is in the broad area of Nanomedicine and pulmonary drug delivery. The long-range goal is to develop innovative drug and gene nanocarrier systems and their formulations for the regional delivery of therapeutics to and through epithelial barriers, with a focus on the lung epithelium
