UNILAG’s best PhD scholar pursues malaria vaccine Share 0 Tweet 0

•Dr Oyebola (second right) receiving his award from the Chancellor, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Garba El-Kanemi (second left). With them are Registrar, Dr Taiwo Ipaye (left), and the Vice Chancellor, Prof Rahamon Bello.

MR Muyiwa Oyebola, who graduated with the best PhD thesis from the University of Lagos (UNILAG) last Thursday, hopes to develop a vaccine against malaria parasite from his doctoral research.

The 28-year old, whose PhD was in Biochemistry, Parasitology and Bioinformatics, said he has secured funds for his post doctoral fellowship in the United States of America (USA) to further validate the findings of his research.

Oyebola said: “I focused on genomics of the malaria parasite. That is the genetic make-up of malaria, in order to design an effective vaccine. I identified some antidotes that can be further validated for vaccine development against malaria. I intend to do my post doctoral research in the U.S. I got sponsorship from the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), UNILAG and other collaborators during my doctoral research. Now, I have acquired a post doctoral fellowship to validate my findings. The fellowship will be in Uganda and the U.S. Collection of samples would be from Nigeria and Uganda, and then I would take them to the U.S. National Institute of health, which is also a collaborator in this.”

Oyebola hopes to share the knowledge he gained doing his PhD thesis titled: “Genome-wide analysis and diversity of plasmodium falciparum in Lagos and Ekiti States, Southwest, Nigeria,” to others, while holding on to his passion for research.

Oyebola, who hails from Ekiti West local government area of Ekiti State, bagged his Bachelor’s degree in Zoology at University of Ado-Ekiti (now Ekiti State University) in 2008 and emerged best in his faculty during his masters in Biochemistry, Parasitology and Bioinformatics at UNILAG in 2011.

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