Overview and Research Interests
I am a chemical scientist with interdisciplinary research experience in the field of infectious diseases. Currently, I am a research officer at the Holistic Drug Discovery and Development (H3D) Centre and in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cape Town (UCT), under the mentorship of Professor Kelly Chibale. I am also affiliated to the UCT Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM) as a Fellow, a category of membership designed to support early- and intermediate-level researchers through association with the IDM and its community of scholars.
Research interests
I am proficient in a wide range of laboratory techniques, ranging from organic synthesis and spectroscopy to mammalian tissue culture and fluorescence microscopy, and this broad skill set has led to a special interest in research questions at the interface of chemistry and biology ("chemical biology"). Hence, I conduct research in various aspects of chemical biology and medicinal chemistry in the context of drug discovery, with a focus on malaria:
My career aspiration is to make a positive contribution to science in South Africa, with a global impact, through drug discovery research underpinned by chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, with a focus on infectious diseases that disproportionately affect the African continent. Our research efforts are augmented by productive collaborations with many groups within UCT, around South Africa and abroad.
Research interests
I am proficient in a wide range of laboratory techniques, ranging from organic synthesis and spectroscopy to mammalian tissue culture and fluorescence microscopy, and this broad skill set has led to a special interest in research questions at the interface of chemistry and biology ("chemical biology"). Hence, I conduct research in various aspects of chemical biology and medicinal chemistry in the context of drug discovery, with a focus on malaria:
- My primary aim is to establish in-house approaches for mode-of-action deconvolution and target identification of hit compounds active against the human malaria parasite (Plasmodium falciparum), using techniques such as live-cell fluorescence microscopy and chemoproteomics.
- The medicinal chemistry optimisation of noncovalent and covalent inhibitors of P. falciparum phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase beta (PfPI4Kβ), a clinically-validated drug target for malaria.
- Unravelling the bioinorganic chemistry of malaria pigment (haemozoin) and β-haematin (synthetic haemozoin) formation.
- Integrating aspects of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) into our workflows at the H3D Centre to reduce compound attrition rates.
My career aspiration is to make a positive contribution to science in South Africa, with a global impact, through drug discovery research underpinned by chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, with a focus on infectious diseases that disproportionately affect the African continent. Our research efforts are augmented by productive collaborations with many groups within UCT, around South Africa and abroad.
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Supervision, teaching and social responsiveness
- I am independent and self-motivated with a passion for supervision and mentoring. I co-supervise many postgraduate students in the Department of Chemistry and am privileged to mentor a handful of postdoctoral fellows.
- I am also passionate about teaching and, more broadly, promoting science and improving scientific literacy in South Africa. I frequently share my passion for science in the form of public talks and popular science articles and this has led to many rewarding experiences and insights. I have also been involved with developing teaching materials for the African BioImaging Consortium which aims to strengthen the microscopy community in Africa.
- Over the years I have also been fortunate to present my research at local and international scientific meetings and conferences, leading to the award of several presentation prizes as detailed in my résumé.
- I am a member of the South African Chemical Institute (SACI) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and have actively served on the joint local committee of these professional associations since 2014. Our activities range from organising public lecture-demonstrations and open days to symposia for postgraduates in the chemical sciences.
- I am on the Early Career Board for the scientific journal ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters.
- From 2019 to 2022, I represented my peers on the H3D Social, Ethics and Transformation Committee that aims to build an inclusive and socially-responsive environment across traditional scientific disciplines.
Current PhD candidates: Ms Christabel Hikaambo, Ms Fatima-Zahra Ishmail, Mr Ferdinand Ndubi, Ms Natalia Shakela
Postdoctoral fellows: Dr Jason Hlozek (2021–2024), Dr Mmakwena Mmonwa (2021–2023), Dr Godfrey Mayoka (2022)
Graduated students:
- Ghannish Soogary (MSc with dinstinction awarded December 2023): "Determining the solubility of haematin and haem−drug complexes at relevant pH in aqueous medium via spectrophotometric titration"