Sunday, March 27, 2011[size=14pt]
Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, researchers discover variant ways of eradicating malaria[/size]

By Geoff Iyatse



USING bioinformatics approach, a team of researchers from Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State led by Prof. Ezekiel Adebiyi, has discovered variant ways of malaria eradication, including eradicating mosquitoes infected with malaria parasites. The research work is expected to free Nigeria and the rest of Africa of the scourge in the nearest future, or at least reduce it drastically.




advertisement



Bioinformatics application in drugs is an emerging field. It is the modeling and application of computational techniques to solve laborious biological problems, beginning with the like of proteins alignment to the more demanding protein 3D structure prediction and molecular recognition of protein-ligand complexes.


The first targeted product of the research is a cuisine of anti-malaria drugs, which could be added into household salt to enhance its scope of usage. The vaccine will prevent uninfected mosquitoes from infection after a bite. The second product, which is more advanced than the first, will help to delete rapidly, all malaria-infected mosquitoes. Adebiyi described it as "an advanced but human friendly pesticide DDT, a cocktail of agents."


He added: "The expected result of the successful execution and application of our work will make Nigeria and eventually Africa, free of malaria infected humans and mosquitoes like the Western world."


Adebiyi spoke during the first inaugural lecture of Covenant University titled 'Code Malaria: Eradication Developments for the Decade.'


"At Covenant, with collaborators from University of Heideberg and Marburg, Germany, using the techniques from biometrics, we have computationally mined four enzymatic drug target sites on the malaria parasite for which the biological mode of actions of associated bioactive compounds will be entirely known. This discovery provides for the first time, anti-malaria drug target sites upon which a viable structural design pipeline is being built.


"It also provides a viable platform to optimise the fitting of indigenous medical plants bioactive compounds via a rational drugs design approach. We have recently discovered other drug target sites such as signaling pathways and transcription factors. We are developing techniques towards diagnosing malaria at the liver stage," he continued.


Adebiyi, who is the head of Computer and Information Technology Department, also said his team is currently searching for bioactive compounds from indigenous medical plants and acceptable anti-malaria drugs in addition to the search for synthetic anti-malaria agents.


Chancellor of the university, Dr. David Oyedepo, pledged his support for the medical project. He urged Africans to stop looking outside for solution to the killer disease, noting that the solution to the problem is within.


He implored all stakeholders to join the search for a solution to the scourge, saying, "until Africa rises to the challenge, it will remain miserable forever."

http://odili.net/news/source/2011/mar/27/1.html