Rate My Professor Shyamal Das

Professor Shyamal Das is a Professor and Associate Dean of Research in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Otago, Dunedin, within the Division of Health Sciences. He lectures in Pharmaceutical Science and leads the Das Laboratory, specializing in drug formulation and delivery via dry powder inhalers for treating respiratory diseases and infections. His research targets chronic lung conditions including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, and drug-resistant bacterial infections such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae, as well as COVID-19 therapeutics. Projects encompass high-dose powders for pulmonary delivery, inhaled biologics like micro-RNA nanocomposites, cannabidiol formulations for COPD, dissolution dynamics in lung fluids, vaping and e-cigarette safety, and herbal medicines. Das began his academic career in Bangladesh in 2000, obtained his PhD in Pharmaceutics from the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Australia, completed a five-year research fellowship there, and joined the University of Otago.

Das has secured over $2.3 million in funding from the Health Research Council of New Zealand, Otago Medical Research Foundation, and industry partners. He leads New Zealand's research on dry powder inhalers, including a Phase I clinical trial for inhaled rifampicin in tuberculosis treatment, with several formulations advanced to clinical stages. Key publications include 'Influence of Different Amino Acids on the Aerosolization, Stability and Cytotoxicity of Spray-Dried Cannabidiol Dry Powder for Inhalation' (Pharmaceutics, 2025), 'Preparation and In Vitro Characterization of Inhalable Cannabidiol Dry Powder for Treating Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease' (International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 2025), 'Inhalable Spray-Dried Dry Powders Combining Ivermectin and Niclosamide to Inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Infection In Vitro' (International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 2025), and 'Combating Multidrug-Resistant Klebsiella Pneumoniae' (Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 2026). He has authored over 100 peer-reviewed papers in top-quartile journals and delivered invited keynotes at RDD Europe and Inhalation Asia conferences. Das received teaching awards such as Top Five Teachers (2016), Premier Lecturer for Health Sciences Division (2017), School of Pharmacy Excellence in Teaching (2016), Supervisor of the Year (2017), and research honors including Emerging Researcher (2016), Research Excellence (2019), and Best Research Paper (2019-2021) from Green Cross Health Pharmacy Awards. He is President of the Otago Medical School Research Society and New Zealand Chapter of the Controlled Release Society, serves on editorial boards of International Journal of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutics, and was named KiwiBank Local Hero (2021) for COVID-19 hand sanitizer production. Das supervises PhD students and developed the BPharm(Hons) programme.