Summary

Education

PhD, Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, 2020
PharmD, University of Texas at Austin, 2016

Professional Experience

Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 2021-present
President/CEO, CloXero Therapeutics Inc, Austin, TX, 2020 - present
Director, Strategy and Operations, Via Therapeutics LLC, Austin, TX, 2021
Senior Research Scientist, Via Therapeutics LLC, Austin, TX, 2018-2021

Research Statement

Respiratory diseases remain a leading cause of global morbidity and mortality despite many advances in medicine. The pathology underlying many chronic lung diseases is incredibly complex, and disease progression occurs through an interplay of various factors, including the composition of lung microbiome, the architecture of the airways, and immune response to opportunistic microbes. Inhaled drug delivery is well-suited for the treatment of respiratory diseases as it eliminates the need for plasma-to-lesion or infection-site distribution. However, the complex pathology underlying many chronic lung diseases presents numerous challenges for successful drug delivery. The Brunaugh Lab is focused on the elucidation of the underlying mechanisms for respiratory disease progression to determine appropriate therapeutic targets and develop novel formulation and inhaled drug delivery approaches to improve patient outcomes. In particular, we are interested in the development of pharmaceutical interventions to 1) resolve and prevent occurrence of opportunistic infections in chronic respiratory disease states, 2) reduce the hyperinflammatory response noted in most respiratory disease, and 3) improve lung microbiome health.  

Research Interests

  • Development of novel inhaled therapeutics for mycobacterial lung diseases

  • Treatment/prevention of chronic airway inflammation through targeted interventions in the innate immune response

  • Improving in vitro-in vivo correlation and clinical translatability of preclinical inhaled drug products 

  • Identification and resolution of lung microbiome dysfunction in chronic lung diseases 

  • Understanding the impact of airway disease on device and inhaled powder performance

Awards

  • 2022 UC San Diego Raising Advancement and Parity for Infectious Disease Researchers (RAPID) program, UC San Diego / NIAID

Selected Publications

  • Brunaugh AD, Seo H, Warnken Z, Ding L, Seo SH, Smyth HD. Development and evaluation of inhalable composite niclosamide-lysozyme particles: A broad-spectrum, patient-adaptable treatment for coronavirus infections and sequalae. PloS one. 2021 Feb 11;16(2):e0246803.

  • Brunaugh AD, Ding L, Wu T, Schneider M, Khalaf R, Smyth HD. Identification of Stability Constraints in the Particle Engineering of an Inhaled Monoclonal Antibody Dried Powder. Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2021 Aug 26.

  • Brunaugh AD, Wu T, Kanapuram SR, Smyth HD. Effect of particle formation process on characteristics and aerosol performance of respirable protein powders. Molecular pharmaceutics. 2019 Aug 26;16(10):4165-80.

  • Brunaugh AD, Jan SU, Ferrati S, Smyth HD. Excipient-free pulmonary delivery and macrophage targeting of clofazimine via air jet micronization. Molecular pharmaceutics. 2017 Nov 6;14(11):4019-31

  • Brunaugh AD, Smyth HD. Formulation techniques for high dose dry powders. International journal of pharmaceutics. 2018 Aug 25;547(1-2):489-98.