Abstract:

Africa is endemic to numerous infectious diseases and most of them are not of significant interest to big pharmaceutical companies for development of new effective interventions. Hence, most of the diseases are termed neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), examples are African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis and schistosomiasis. The causative agents are varied, ranging from multicellular worms to unicellular parasites, and viruses. The pathogens are transmitted to humans and animals by insects (tsetse flies and sandflies for African trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis, respectively) and other animals such as snails (schistosomiasis). Therefore, the environment strongly impacts the dynamics of these diseases. Over 500 million people in Africa are affected by NTDs. There are mostly no vaccines, and available drugs are no longer effective due to drug resistance and toxicities. Hence, we are making efforts to contribute towards intervention (drugs, diagnostics, and vaccine) development. We are targeting essential enzymes such as trypanosomes glycerol kinase and alternative oxidase for drug design. Details of our findings and outcomes will be discussed during the seminar.

Speaker: Dr. Emmanuel Oluwadare Balogun (Ahmadu Bello University)
 

 
Speaker bio: 

Emmanuel Oluwadare Balogun is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, a Professor of Biochemical and Molecular Parasitology at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria, where he teaches and researches infectious diseases endemic to Africa, including trypanosomiasis, schistosomiasis, and malaria. He is also a Visiting Scholar at SSPPS, UCSD, and holds visiting positions at the University of Tokyo and Osaka Metropolitan University in Japan. For nearly 20 years, his research has focused on enzymology, protein science, structural biology, and drug discovery. He determined the structure of glycerol kinase of African trypanosomes and combined these findings with kinetic data to design the enzyme’s first inhibitor. He has also contributed to the structural elucidation and enzymological analysis of six other important drug-discovery target enzymes. Emmanuel has supervised 32 PhD and 15 MSc students and has mentored 16 graduate students who secured internationally competitive scholarships, fellowships, and awards. His work has been supported by an NIH K43 Career Development Award. His honours include a Japanese Government Monbukagakusho Scholarship; fellowships from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Fulbright Senior Scholarship programme in the United States, and the Royal Society’s FLAIR programme in the United Kingdom; the National Institutes of Health Emerging Global Leader Award; and a fellowship with the US–Africa Frontiers of Science programme of the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Host: Kosuke Fujishima, ELSI.

Date: Wed. 11 Nov. 16:00-17:00 JST

Venue: Mishima Hall, ELSI (Hybrid)