Nanotechnology-based Innovations in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Treatment and Management

Dr. Harish Dureja is Professor and Head, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak. Dr. Dureja is also the Director, Centre for IPR Studies and Director, Professional Consultancy Cell. Dr. Dureja has more than 22 years of teaching experience. He also holds 18 years research experience in the field of nanoparticulate drug delivery, regulatory affairs and in silico ADME modeling. Dr. Dureja has been awarded with Gold-Medal for the best Ph.D. thesis and research projects worth 1.2 Crore from various funding agencies. He has filed an Indian patent and written a book and authored more than twenty five book chapters. He has published 265 publications in various international and national journals of repute. He worked as Chairman-Scientific Services Committee (LOC) during 69th IPC at Chitkara University, Raj-pura. He also worked as content writer for e-Pathashala program of Ministry of Human Resources Development for Post Graduate course of Pharmaceutical Sciences for the paper novel drug delivery system. He has delivered more than 180 invited Lectures in various conferences, seminars and symposiums and has guided 60 PG scholars and 10 students for doctoral work. He has been awarded the Gold-Medal for Best Ph.D. Thesis, Best Paper Award - Prof. M.L. Khorana Memorial Prize Award – 2005 and Dr. R.L. Nicore award - 2018. He has published six special issues as a Guest Editor for the Journals published by Bentham Science Publishers, and one issue published by Frontiers, Switzerland. He is currently also serving as President, Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India (APTI), Haryana State Branch.

Dr Ronan MacLoughlin, PhD MBS, is currently director of Research and Development, Science and Emerging Technologies in Aerogen limited and Irish medical device company specializing in respiratory drug delivery. He has more than 25 years of experience in the design and development of aerosol drug delivery systems and drug/device combination products. He currently has more than 120 articles, and multiple conference presentations and conference papers combined with several patents. He holds the position of adjunct associate professor in Trinity College Dublin’s (Ireland) Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, honorary Senior Lecturer in the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI), nonexecutive director on the board of several startup and scaling Med tech and pharmaceutical companies. Additionally, he is currently chair of the pediatric and cystic fibrosis working group within the International Society for aerosols in medicine. In 2024 he was honored with the Thomas T Mercer award, recognizing Dr MacLoughlin’s excellence in the areas of pharmaceutical aerosols and inhalable materials.development of drug delivery systems and drug device combinations, he has >220 collaborative publications,as well as 12 granted patents.His most recent focus has been on enabling several clinical programs making use of aerosolised prophylacticsand therapeutics for COVID-19, and his work on delivery of inhaled vaccines has resulted in theworld’s first approval for an orally inhaled vaccine for COVID-19 (Convidecia Air). His contribution to thestate of the art in fugitive medical and patient-derived aerosols was central to the evolution of severalcritical care consensus statements around the safe use of aerosol therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. John I. Disouza is a Professor in Pharmaceutics, and Principal, at Tatyasaheb Kore College of Pharmacy, Warananagar, India. He has 20 years of teaching and research experience. Prof. Disouza has published more than 100 research papers, 3 books, and 8 book chapters. He is chief editor of the journal ‘Pharmacumconsequat’ and editor for Centum, and has also served as a guest editor for DDTR. Prof. Disouza is the chairperson of the IPA-Education division for Maharashtra state, a member of the Executive Board of the national IPA-Education division, and EC member of Controlled Release Society- Indian Chapter.

Muralikrishnan Dhanasekaran, is a Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Department of Drug Discovery and Development, Harrison College of Pharmacy, Auburn University. He earned his Ph.D. in 1999 from the Jadavpur University, India, in neuropharmacology. From 1999-2001, he became a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, and the Uni-versity of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, ND. He served as a re-search instructor of pharmacology at Texas A & M Health Sciences, Temple, TX. His major area of teaching and research is related to pathophysiology, pharmacology, and toxicology in dementia, movement disorders, addiction (substances of abuse-designer drugs, nicotine, alcohol), hyperglycemia, epilepsy, and aging. His research was funded by the Alzheimer’s Association and Pharmaceutical com-panies in the USA. He has over one hundred and thirteen peer-reviewed publications, fifty book chap-ters, and around four hundred abstracts in national and international meetings in the area of pharma-cology, toxicology, and natural bioactives. He has received several awards for teaching, service, and outreach. He has been an editor or on the editorial board for several books and journals including nat-ural products, pharmacology, toxicology, and neuropharmacology.

Kamal Dua is an Associate Professor in the Discipline of Pharmacy at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Dr Dua has been recognised and named as one of Australia’s Top 250 researchers in 2025 and 2024 in Research Magazine by “The Australian in the research discipline of Health and Medical sciences, and #1/research leader in the area of Pharmacology and Pharmacy (2025) and Toxicology (2024) respectively. With over 17 years of research experience, he has specialised in drug delivery targeting inflammatory diseases. Additionally, Dr Dua also leads drug delivery research at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research. In this role, he focuses on advancing targets identified in research projects to develop innovative formulations, taking the first steps toward clinical translation. Dr Dua’s research encompasses two complementary areas: drug delivery and immunology. His work explores how these disciplines can mutually benefit, contributing to the goal of promoting longer and healthier lives for the community. His commitment to synergy is reflected in his extensive publication record in reputable journals. Dr Dua’s research interests are centered on harnessing the pharmaceutical potential of modulating critical regulators, such as interleukins and microRNAs. He also specialises in developing new and effective drug delivery formulations for managing inflammation in chronic airway diseases and cancer.

Lokesh holds a Bachelor's Degree in Pharmacy (“Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, India ) and a Master's degree in Industrial Pharmacy (Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, India). He is currently pursuing a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, India, with a thesis on the Formulation, Optimization and Characterization of Nanoemulsion-based Drug Delivery for the treatment of COPD. Lokesh has an experience as an academic researcher, particularly in the setup and evaluation of nano formulations. Lokesh's current expertise and research interest cover the in vitro advanced drug delivery of pharmaceuticals for the treatment of COPD and pulmonary fibrosis.