Graduate’s Heart Set on Being Involved in New Drug Discovery

BY: .

A scientist in the field of drug discovery is what a UKZN doctoral graduate aspires to be!

Said Dr Vincent Adeiza Obakachi of Nigeria who was awarded a PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry: ‘I feel very excited and satisfied as a PhD graduate. My desire is to play a part in the developmental stages of the drug discovery process by designing, synthesising, and evaluating potential novel compounds of biological and therapeutic interest,’ said Obakachi.

He said his PhD journey had been difficult. ‘The environment and people I worked with made life unpleasant for me. I needed to learn a lot from the beginning because it was a new area for me and expectations were just too high. I nearly quit but being Nigerian I soldiered on - anything we start we finish, there’s no going back.’

Obakachi’s study examined designing, synthesising, and evaluating potential novel compounds of biological and therapeutic interest. ‘We found some potential lead compounds to be active against our target.’

He is currently a postdoctoral associate at UKZN.

Words: Nombuso Dlamini

Photograph: Supplied