The Basu Lab, located in South Dakota State University's Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering, has partnered with QHS Lab Inc., a leading provider of digital health care solutions, for the development of a potentially revolutionary drug delivery system.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, SDSU assistant professor Saikat Basu has been conducting groundbreaking research in respiratory fluid dynamics. This research has led to the development of a digital evaluation tool for targeted airway therapeutics that can efficiently deliver medicine to precise, targeted tissue regions along the respiratory pathway. The proposed product is called the "Airway Instantaneous Regional Guided Interface for Drug Delivery Efficiency (AIR-GUIDDE)."

To further develop the computational evaluation tool for targeted airway therapeutics, Basu was recently invited by the National Science Foundation to submit a proposal for NSF's Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer programs. Invitations by NSF to submit proposals are rare and only extended after a comprehensive review of a project's commercial impact, societal benefit and technical innovation.

“This invitation from the NSF is a validation of the groundbreaking nature of the AIR-GUIDDE project,” Basu said. “It reflects not only the advanced scientific principles behind the platform, but also its potential to redefine drug delivery in ways that can significantly improve patient outcomes and lower health care costs.”

The proposal is in partnership with QHS Lab, a West Palm Beach, Florida, company, which will license the technology from South Dakota State University and host the digital platform on their unique cloud-based software infrastructure to have it available for secure external access. This will allow drug formulation and device manufacturers to input their drug device and formulation parameters. The interface will allow manufacturers to quickly assess whether their product — like an inhaler — will achieve therapeutically effective delivery of pharmaceutics at different intra-airway target regions.

"The unique user-friendly interface will be available to industry clients on a pay-per-use basis and will accelerate drug discovery and device development in the respiratory therapeutics sector," Basu said.

Overall, the project — AIR-GUIDDE — is designed to streamline the traditionally expensive and time-consuming process of drug development. By leveraging Basu's expertise in advanced computational fluid dynamics modeling, the platform provides real-time insights into drug deposition patterns in the respiratory and nasal systems.