Dr Michael Davies
Senior Lecturer - School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences
Email: m.davies1@ljmu.ac.uk
Tel: 0151 231 2024
Drug delivery to the lung presents as an excellent approach to treat a wide range of local and systemic disease states and has attracted significant interest within recent years. Consequently, a range of inhaled formulations have been designed and developed; these include for instance engineered particles, nanoparticles and sustained release particles. Whilst a drive exists to develop such particulate material with the aim of optimising treatment outcomes, it would appear that to date relatively little consideration has been given to the nature and extent of interaction between inhaled drug particles and pulmonary fluid, thus necessitating further study.
Dr Davies' research interests primarily involve probing inhaled drug particle characteristics and investigating their interactions with materials pertinent to pulmonary drug delivery. He has a keen interest in analysing the dynamics of simulated pulmonary surfactant monolayers using a Langmuir-Blodgett approach and exploring the association of active pharmaceutical ingredients with such monolayers. Previous work has involved the use of a range of pharmaceutical and biophysical techniques; including for example atomic force microscopy, Langmuir-Blodgett technology, scanning electron microscopy and inverse gas chromatography. These approaches have provided an improved understanding of material characteristics that underpin drug particle interactions. Future work will involve investigating further the structure-function activity relationship of simulated pulmonary surfactant monolayers and the interaction between this biologically relevant material and therapeutic compounds. In addition, he aims to focus on the generation and evaluation of therapeutic nanoparticles suitable for pulmonary delivery systems. Here, a range of analytical and biophysical approaches will be employed to assess formulation stability and aerosol performance. Overall, his research involves the integration of novel concepts and multidisciplinary experimental approaches to advance current understanding of inhaled formulations with the aim of ultimately improving drug delivery via the pulmonary route.
