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Department of Pharmacology

 
Gates Cambridge Scholars 2018

We are delighted to announce two Gates Scholars who will be joining the Department of Pharmacology in October 2018. Congratulations Charity and Cynthia on your success in gaining these prestigious Scholarships...

Ninety-two of the most academically exceptional and socially committed people from across the globe have been selected as Gates Cambridge Scholars - the University of Cambridge's most prestigious international postgraduate scholarship.

https://www.gatescambridge.org/news/gates-cambridge-class-2018-announced

We are delighted to announce two Gates Scholars who will be joining the Department of Pharmacology in October 2018. Congratulations Charity and Cynthia on your success in gaining these prestigious Scholarships!

1. Charity Bhebhe is from Zimbabwe and her ambition is to perform research in gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel disease (IBD). She will pursue a PhD in Pharmacology, working with Dr. David Bulmer, investigating the mechanisms of hypersensitivity in IBD – this is a common disorder that is characterised by diarrhea and abdominal pain and is a leading cause of child morbidity and mortality worldwide. It is her goal to apply her medical research skills in to try to improve healthcare standards and give people from developing counties, such as her own, and disadvantaged communities a fair chance to fight against disease.

2. Cynthia Okoye is from Nigeria and she will address the problem of drug resistance through a drug design approach in the labs of Professor Laura Itzhaki and Dr Catherine Lindon. She will be optimizing the PROTAC technology, which is the foundation for a novel class of therapeutics that harness the natural protein-degradation machinery to target disease-causing proteins. The broad applicability of PROTACS to many diseases makes this project significant to drug discovery. Drug resistance to current medications is a global health concern, and Cynthia is keen to help provide a better understanding of the evolutionary drivers of resistance to better equip us to address this crisis.