Rui Churro is a Chemical Engineer and holds a PhD in Refining, Petrochemical and Chemical
Engineering from Universidade do Porto, 2020, in which he developed a new industrial chemical route
of synthesis for valorization of an industrial waste stream.
Currently, Rui is working as a Process Development Scientist at the Inhalation and Advanced Drug
Delivery group at Hovione PharmaCiencia, since 2020. Rui’s expertise covers fundamental science on
spray drying process as well as, from early to late-stage process development and scale up, with a focus
on dry engineered powders for inhalation. Most recently he has been developing development strategies
focusing on integrated process development solutions from drug product intermediate to final drug
product for inhalation drug delivery.
Current research is focused on process development methodologies for enhanced drug delivery by
spray drying and capsule filling processes, namely on the field of spray drying of biologics and
engineered powders. Additionally, his research has focused on the leverage of spray drying for
inhalation drug product intermediate manufacturing and scale up. Rui is furthermore involved in
modeling and simulation of capsule filling and is contributing to find new quality by design approaches
towards leaner process development methodologies at the inhalation area.