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Devasha Redhi Devasha received her BMedSci(Hons) and PhD in Clinical Pharmacology from the University of Cape Town. In 2017, she upgraded her MSc to a PhD, which focused on the preclinical evaluation of a series of novel antimalarial compounds and their metabolites. This study determined the in vivo pharmacokinetics in healthy mice to subsequently allow for the rational selection of lead candidates which could be further evaluated for their in vivo pharmacokinetics and antimalarial efficacy in a Plasmodium falciparum-infected humanised murine model. She also probed the potential of the lead candidates to be used in combination therapy with clinically established antimalarial drugs. In 2021, Devasha joined the H3D Drug Discovery and Development Centre and KC Research group as a postdoctoral fellow, her current research involves human dose prediction analysis, which is fulfilled by generating and utilising in vitro parasitology and ADME data, as well as in vivo pharmacokinetic and antimalarial data of dose escalation and dose fractionation studies. |
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Jason Hlozek Jason obtained his B.Sc. in Chemistry and Computer Science from the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2014, followed by a B.Sc. Honours in Computer Science in 2015.He then joined the Bioanalytical and Vaccine Research Group from 2016 to 2020, where he obtained his PhD in Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. Neil Ravenscroft (Chemistry) and co-supervision of Prof. Michelle Kuttel (Chemistry). His PhD work focused on the computational modelling of bacterial carbohydrate antigens to advance the understanding of vaccine cross-protection phenomena to promote the rational design of optimal multivalent vaccines. He has authored several publications on the conformational analysis of polysaccharides corresponding to strains of Neisseria meningitidis and Shigella flexneri, pathogenic bacteria that predominantly burden low-income settings. Jason is passionate about interdisciplinary research and work that will make a positive and tangible impact on society. In May 2021, he joined the Kelly Chibale research group and H3D as a postdoctoral research fellow, pursuing research in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) with the application of accelerating drug discovery and development. |
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Koketso Mogwera Koketso is a Postdoctoral research fellow working on target-based drug discovery approaches. She obtained an MSc. in Biochemistry from the University of Johannesburg in 2015. Her research dissertation was on the spectroscopic analysis of secondary structures of human linker histone variants. She went on to obtain a PhD in Biochemistry from Stellenbosch University. Her PhD thesis was on membrane transport and permeability studies of Coenzyme A, its intermediates and antimetabolites. Part of her PhD focused on the mechanistic investigation of bacterial kinases to understand the molecular determinants of substrate selectivity in these enzymes. She is now applying the approaches and techniques learnt from that study in her current research project which entails the application of mechanistic enzymology and structural biology principles in targeting Plasmodium falciparum kinases for the development of novel antimalarial agents. Koketso has a friendly demeanor and believes in a systematic approach to a research problem. Her time outside the research lab is spent on leisure reading, road running, hiking and she is also a performing arts enthusiast. |
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Thato Motlhalamme Thato received her BSc in Complimentary Medicine and an MSc in Medical Biosciences from the University of the Western Cape in 2010 and 2013 respectively. Her masters research looked at the combinations of medicinal plant extracts with antibiotics to overcome resistance in MRSA. She then pursued her PhD at Stellenbosch University working on a project that characterized melatonin production in yeast. In 2022, Thato joined the Kelly Chibale research group working on a project that aims to understand how the gut microbiota metabolises drugs. |