Welcome to the Aerosols in Medicine (AIM) Lab.  We are a group of engineering and pharmaceutical science researchers dedicated to improving the treatment of respiratory and neurological diseases and disorders through the development and expanded use of pharmaceutical aerosol products and platforms.

As the AIM Lab director, my training is in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on the transport dynamics of biofluid systems, which has included both blood particle dynamics in vascular systems and aerosol deposition in the respiratory airways.  Beginning with postdoc positions at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and with the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), I have over 20 years of experience in the areas of respiratory aerosols and their related toxicological and pharmacological health effects.

In the AIM Lab, together with Dr. Michael Hindle and the Hindle Research Group, we apply the engineering and pharmaceutical science skill sets to develop innovative technologies and methods that:

(i) Enable the development of new pharmaceutical aerosol products with the goal of high-efficacy therapeutics, and

(ii) Seek to improve the regulatory science of pharmaceutical aerosols to expedite regulatory approval while reducing human subject and animal model testing.

A focused theme of our work is to develop new and innovative technologies and methods that enable targeted therapeutic delivery both to and within different regions of the respiratory tract (including specific regions of the lungs or nasal airways).  As a sample technology, in collaboration with VCU Pharmaceutics, we have pioneered the aerosol targeting strategy of controlled condensational growth, in which we design and deliver aerosols that change size upon entering the lungs in order to target deposition and drug delivery to specific regions of the airways.  As a sample method, we were one of the originators in the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for predicting pharmaceutical aerosol lung delivery from inhalers for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and these techniques have recently been incorporated into US FDA guidance to industry documents with the goal of accelerating the application and review process for new inhaled medications.

Using the technologies and methods developed by the AIM Lab and with our collaborators, current application areas include:

• Developing synthetic lung surfactant therapies for preterm infants (who are experiencing respiratory distress syndrome) and for adults with inhalation lung injuries 

• Developing inhaled anti-infective (antibiotic, antiviral and vaccine) products with high efficacy

• Developing inhalation therapies to prevent and treat chronic lung and neurological diseases

• Developing computational and in vitro models to aid the regulatory approval of inhaled therapeutics in order to reduce human and animal model testing, accelerate review and ultimately reduce product costs

All of this work is made possible by support from our sponsors, who currently include National Institutes of Health (NIH), Gates Foundation, and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Please take time to explore the AIM Lab website, review our Overview and Research Highlights, read more about our Background, Motivation and Approach and explore our Technologies and Methods.  If you are interested in joining our Team, collaborating or forming a commercial partnership, please feel free to reach out to me.

Professor Worth Longest