PhD Students | University of Cape Town

Christabel Hikaambo

Christabel obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy(BPharm) from the University of Zambia in 2015 and emerged as the best student in her class. In the same year, she was awarded a Korean government scholarship to pursue her Master’s degree in South Korea. She graduated from Sookmyung Women’s University in South Korea in 2018 with a Master’s degree in Pharmacy(MPharm) majoring in Pharmaceutical chemistry. Her project work was based on the Synthesis of enantiomerically pure (d)–doxylamine using a novel chiral auxiliary. From 2019-2021, she served as a lecturer and researcher of pharmaceutical chemistry, medicinal chemistry and pharmacology in the department of pharmacy at the University of Zambia. She was also actively involved in the supervision of undergraduate final year research projects. In 2021, she acquired a Postgraduate diploma in Student research supervision and ethics from the University of Lusaka.
Currently, she is pursuing her PhD in medicinal chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Kelly Chibale and Drs. Kathryn Wicht and John Woodland. Her project is focused on exploring polypharmacology of Plasmodium kinase inhibitors via a targeted covalent inhibitor (TCI) approach. Once she graduates, she hopes to spearhead the establishment of a functional medicinal chemistry laboratory under the department of pharmacy at the University of Zambia. This will act as a driver for drug discovery and development research with students in Zambia.

Cleavon Cloete

Cleavon completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Stellenbosch and was awarded a BSc in molecular biology and biotechnology with a specialisation in biochemistry and microbiology. He subsequently completed a BMedSc Honours degree at the University of Cape Town specialising in clinical pharmacology, with his project focusing on the ADME properties and cytochrome P450 (CYP) mediated metabolism of a potential novel malaria drug. In 2019 he completed his master’s studies in clinical pharmacology at the University of Cape Town. His project work was based on the development and partial validation of bioanalytical methods for the measurement of CYP activity in human liver microsomes with the use of probe substrates. He is currently enrolled as a PhD candidate in the department of chemistry at the University of Cape Town where he is pursuing a project investigating drug exposure and metabolite profile in the African population by means of physiologically based pharmacokinetic modelling.
His research interests include drug metabolism and CYP enzyme kinetics as well as the broader field of pharmacokinetics. He has a great interest in preclinical drug development with a specific focus of his to hopefully help in lowering the disease burden on the African continent.

Fatima-Zahra Ishmail

Fatima-Zahra obtained a B.Sc. degree with a triple major in: Genetics, Biochemistry and Chemistry in 2016 from the University of Cape Town (UCT). In 2017 she pursued a B.Sc. (Hons) and in 2018 a MSc, both in Chemistry at UCT. In 2019 she graduated with a Msc with distinction. Her work focussed on the synthesis and antiplasmodium evaluation of quinoline-triazole Mn(I) and Re(I) photoCORMs. She is currently enrolled as a PhD candidate in the department of chemistry at UCT where she is investigating the synthesis and mechanistic studies of mixed-ligand Pt(II) complexes as antiplasmodium agents. Her research interests include the use of metal complexes in medicinal chemistry to find compounds with novel mechanisms of action in the malaria parasite. She hopes to emphasize the potential of transition metals in drug discovery.

Ferdinand Ndubi

Ferdinand is a trained pharmacist, having graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) degree from the University of Nairobi in Kenya in 2010. After a short stint as a practising pharmacist, he joined the University of Cape Town in 2014 for a MSc degree in Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Kelly Chibale and Prof. Mino Caira. His MSc research involved synthesis, supramolecular derivatization, and pharmacological evaluation of antimalarial pyridobenzimidazoles to optimise their antimalarial activity and physico-chemical properties. He obtained his MSc in 2016. Since then he has been serving as lecturer and researcher at the department of pharmaceutical chemistry, school of pharmacy, Kabarak University in Kenya.
Currently, he is enrolled as a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Chibale and Drs. John Woodland and Kathryn Wicht. His research interest covers the broad area of drug discovery and development, specifically in the area of malaria as well as other neglected tropical diseases. Having worked as a hospital pharmacist in Kenya, he is has seen first-hand the challenges associated with inadequate safe and efficacious treatment options for malaria. He hopes to utilise his PhD studies and future research efforts to contribute to the discovery and development of novel safe and effective treatment options for neglected tropical diseases.
His research interests include drug metabolism and CYP enzyme kinetics as well as the broader field of pharmacokinetics. He has a great interest in preclinical drug development with a specific focus of his to hopefully help in lowering the disease burden on the African continent.

Natalia Shakela

Natalia studied at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Namibia. She graduated BSc in 2017 with cum laude (Chemistry major and Physics minor) and BSc Honours with cum laude (Applied Chemistry) in 2019. She has worked as Laboratory Technician in the Department of Natural and Applied Sciences, Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences, NUST, since 2018. As a student and Laboratory Technician, she has been involved in research, under the supervision of senior academics in projects of Moringa seed protein for water treatment and antimicrobial activity, the preparation and characterisation of wood plastics composites, preparation and characterisation of activated carbon using encroacher bushes biomass for the removal of persistent pollutants from wastewater. Some of these projects have been supported financially by organisations such as GIZ and SIDA. She has received awards as the best overall student at first, second-, third-year levels, and at Honours level. In 2020, she received the best poster presentation award in the Environmental Chemistry section during the inaugural Royal Society’s Commonwealth Chemistry Virtual Congress. Research interest in drug discovery and the current focus is on malaria drug discovery by designing small molecules that moderately inhibit or bind to two or biological targets (also known as polypharmacology). This recent trend contrasts with what is typically done in drug discovery today, i.e. designing small molecules that strongly inhibit/tightly bind to a single target. The project aims to identify dual targeting malaria selective kinase inhibitor leads suitable for optimisation as potential agents for treating uncomplicated blood-stage Plasmodium falciparum malaria with transmission-blocking potential through activity against gametocyte parasite life-cycle stage parasites, ideally with additional activity against liver-stage parasites. The idea is to repurpose human kinase inhibitors as novel antimalarial agents.