Harrison College of Pharmacy

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Laboratory Personnel

Graduate Students

• Manjusha Annaji (co-advisor: Dr. Robert Arnold)
• Ishwor Poudel
• Nur Mita (co-advisor: Dr. Robert Arnold)
• Qi Wang

Research Interests

Solubility Enhancement and Oral Drug Delivery: A significant difficulty in new drug development is the poor water solubility of the drug, which can result in low oral bioavailability. My research has been focused on using innovative technology platforms for improving the solubility and oral absorption of water-insoluble drugs. I have formulated supercritical fluid-based nanoparticles, amorphous solids, hot-melt extrusion systems, nanoemulsions, and cyclodextrin complexes for various water-insoluble drugs. Selected publications are listed below:

• Sathigari SK, Ober CA, Sanganwar GP, Gupta RB, Babu RJ, Single‐step preparation and deagglomeration of itraconazole microflakes by supercritical antisolvent method for dissolution enhancement, J. Pharm. Sci., 2011 100 (7) 2952-2965.
• Sanganwar GP, Sathigari S, Babu RJ, Gupta RB. Simultaneous production and co-mixing of microparticles of nevirapine with excipients by supercritical antisolvent method for dissolution enhancement. Eur J Pharm Sci. 39(1-3): 164-174, 2010.
• Babu RJ, Brostow W, Kalogeras I, and Sathigari S, Glass transitions in binary drug + polymer systems: Concentration dependence, Materials Letters 2009, 63 (30), 2666-2668.
• Sathigari S, Chadha GS, Lee Y-H, Wright N, Parsons DL, Rangari VK, Fasina, Babu RJ, Effect of cyclodextrin complexation on the improvement of solubility and dissolution rate of Efavirenz. AAPS Pharm Sci Tech 2009 (10): 81-87.

Ocular/Nasal/transmucosal Drug Delivery: A large number of drugs are subjected to degradation in the liver before reaching the systemic circulation to the target sites of action. We formulated solution, suspension, and gel-based drug delivery approaches were used to enhance the drug permeation across ocular, nasal and buccal routes.  Selected publications are listed below:

• Shelley H, Annaji M, Grant M, Fasina O, Babu RJ. Sustained Release Biodegradable Microneedles of Difluprednate for Delivery to Posterior Eye. Journal of Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 2022 Feb 15.
• Shelley H, Annaji M, Smith FT, Babu RJ. Difluprednate-Hydroxypropyl-β-Cyclodextrin-Based Ophthalmic Solution for Improved Delivery in a Porcine Eye Model. Journal of ocular pharmacology and therapeutics: the official journal of the Association for Ocular Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 2022;38(1):92-101.
• Shelley H, Rodriguez-Galarza RM, Duran SH, Abarca EM, Babu RJ. In Situ Gel Formulation for Enhanced Ocular Delivery of Nepafenac. J Pharm Sci. 2018 Dec;107(12):3089-3097.
• Shelley H, Grant M, Smith FT, Abarca EM, Jayachandra Babu R. Improved Ocular Delivery of Nepafenac by Cyclodextrin Complexation. AAPS PharmSciTech. 2018 Aug;19(6):2554-2563.
• Aldawsari MF, Lau VW, Babu RJ, Arnold RD, Platt SR. Pharmacokinetic evaluation of novel midazolam gel formulations following buccal administration to healthy dogs. American Journal of Veterinary Research. 2018 Jan;79(1):73-82.
• Babu RJ, Dayal PP, Pawar K, Singh M. Nose-to-brain transport of melatonin from polymer gel suspensions: a microdialysis study in rats. J. Drug Targeting 2011,19(9):731-40.
• Babu RJ, Dayal P, Singh M, Effect of cyclodextrin complexation on the improvement of solubility and nasal permeation of melatonin. Drug Delivery 15: 381-388, 2008.
• Dayal P, Pillay V, Babu RJ, Singh M, Box–Behnken Experimental Design in the Development of a Nasal Drug Delivery System of Hydroxyurea, AAPS PharmSciTech 2005, 6(4): E565-572.

Chemotherapeutic delivery: Ceramides have gained attention as cancer growth suppressor lipids by various mechanisms. These lipids also play a structural role in liposome formulations and enhance the cellular uptake of chemotherapeutic agents. My research has significantly contributed to improving the intracellular delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs. We have developed co-delivery liposome based drug formulations containing the combination of ceramides and doxorubicin, ceramides and daunorubicin, hispolon and doxorubicin. Selected publications are listed below:

• Neupane R, Boddu SH, Abou-Dahech MS, Bachu RD, Terrero D, Babu RJ, Tiwari AK. Transdermal Delivery of Chemotherapeutics: Strategies, Requirements, and Opportunities. Pharmaceutics. 2021 Jul;13(7):960.
• Al Saqr A, Aldawsari MF, Alrbyawi H, Poudel I, Annaji M, Mulabagal V, Ramani MV, Gottumukkala S, Tiwari AK, Dhanasekaran M, Panizzi PR, Arnold RD, Babu RJ. Co-Delivery of Hispolon and Doxorubicin Liposomes Improves Efficacy Against Melanoma Cells. AAPS PharmSciTech. 2020 Nov 4;21(8):304. doi: 10.1208/s12249-020-01846-2. PMID: 33150503.
• Al Saqr A, Majrashi M, Alrbyawi H, Govindarajulu M, Fujihashi A, Gottumukkala S, Poudel I, Arnold RD, Babu RJ, Dhanasekaran M. Elucidating the anti-melanoma effect and mechanisms of Hispolon. Life Sci. 2020 Sep 1;256:117702. doi: 10.1016/j.lfs.2020.117702. Epub 2020 May 6. PMID: 32387411.
• Alrbyawi H, Poudel I, Dash R, Srinivas NR, Tiwari AK, Arnold R, Babu RJ, Role of Ceramides in Drug Delivery, AAPS PharmSciTech (2019), 20(7), 1-14)
• L Chen, H Alrbyawi, I Poudel, RD Arnold, RJ Babu, Co-delivery of Doxorubicin and Ceramide in a Liposomal Formulation Enhances Cytotoxicity in Murine B16BL6 Melanoma Cell Lines, AAPS PharmSciTech 20 (3), 99-108, 2019
• Chen L, Ding Y, Wang Y, Liu X, Babu RJ, Ravis WR, Yan W. Codelivery of zoledronic acid and double-stranded RNA from core-shell nanoparticles. Int. J. Nanomed. 2012, 8:137-45.

Topical and transdermal delivery: I have obtained my doctoral degree on the thesis based on transdermal drug delivery formulations. I have spent entire career researching on topical and transdermal drug products and made significant contributions to the advancement of topical products development. One of the new generation transdermal products are based on microneedle technology, which enables delivery of water-soluble drugs, peptides, proteins, oligonucleotides, and vaccines. My lab is currently elucidating both the drug and formulation factors that affect the delivery of drugs across microneedle treated skin. Selected publications are listed below:

• Neupane R, Boddu SHS, Renukuntla J, Babu RJ, Tiwari AK. Alternatives to Biological Skin in Permeation Studies: Current Trends and Possibilities. Pharmaceutics. 2020 Feb 13;12(2):152.
• Shah PS, Desai PR, Boakye CH, Patlolla R, Babu RJ, Singh M. Percutaneous delivery of α-melanocyte stimulating hormone for the treatment of imiquimod-induced psoriasis. J Drug Target. 2016;24(6):537-47
• Pawar K, Kolli CS, Rangari VK, Babu RJ. Transdermal iontophoretic delivery of lysine-proline-valine (KPV) peptide across microporated human skin. Journal of pharmaceutical sciences. 2017 Jul 1;106(7):1814-20.
• Pawar KR, Mulabagal V, Smith F, Kolli Chandra S, Rangari Vijaya K, Babu RJ. Stability-indicating HPLC assay for lysine-proline-valine (KPV) in aqueous solutions and skin homogenates. Biomed Chromatography 2015, 29(5):716-21.
• Pawar KR, Smith F, Kolli CS, Babu RJ. Effect of lipophilicity on microneedle-mediated iontophoretic transdermal delivery across human skin in vitro. Journal of pharmaceutical sciences. 2013 Oct 1;102(10):3784-91.