Personal information
Biography
Dr. Elizabeth Kigondu’s research interests have been very diverse but her focus now is on drug discovery and product development. Currently, her research projects revolve around exploring synthetic compounds and plant based natural products to identify molecules that can circumvent development of resistance in Mycobacteria tuberculosis (Mtb). She is also pursuing natural product-based compounds for development of a contraceptive with minimal side effects and acceptable to users especially in my African settings.
Elizabeth is now part of an EU-Horizon funded project that is designed to carryout activities that will enhance the collaborations within the Drug Discovery and Development Communities within Africa and Europe. Mentorship and training of young scientist will be one of the key outputs of this project. One of the collaborative research initiatives involves Dr. Kigondu’s role as a co-principal investigator in the tuberculosis (TB) drug discovery and development African consortium that was recently formed and funded by the Gates Foundation to develop compounds targeting protein degradation in Mtb. The consortium is housed within the Grand Challenges African Drug Discovery Accelerator (GC ADDA) network.
In the recent past, Elizabeth received another award: The Grand Challenges Africa TB Drug Discovery seed grant through the Science for Africa Foundation (SFA), to explore compounds that could disrupt efflux activity, an intrinsic mechanism of resistance in Mtb. This idea was initiated in a project that was supported by a grant from the The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). Elizabeth’s contraceptive product development study has also lately received a Non-Hormonal Contraceptive Product Development Grant award from the Gates Foundation through SFA.
In addition, to these great achievements, Elizabeth is an alumni of the Faculty for the Future Fellowship (Schlumberger Foundation) and during this award period, she had an opportunity to spend three months at the Novartis AG Pharmaceutical Company, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetic Department, Basel, Switzerland, where she build her skills in the area of drug metabolism. Three years ago, she was awarded a Scientific Discovery Fellowship by the Janssen Pharmaceutical N.V. During this period, she went through a mentorship program and had an opportunity to visit the Janssen labs in Beerse, Belgium for another 3 months to acquire some skills in carrying out TB assays, specifically those that measure efflux activity inhibition. Through collaborations she has been fortunate to be part of a TB drug discovery project exploring antimycobacterial natural product based compounds for further development, that was funded by the Medical Research Foundation (MRF, UK). Within KEMRI, she has also had a number of studies funded locally and internationally as a principal- and a co-investigator.
Dr. Kigondu has published over 30 publications and has presented her research work in several conferences. In her past and present research work, Elizabeth has collaborated with various scientists (within and without KEMRI). She has been mentoring several students undertaking their undergraduate and postgraduate courses locally and internationally. Elizabeth is a member of the KEMRI’s Institutional Review Board where her role is to review internal and external research proposals. In addition, she is a member of Bioethics Society of Kenya amongst other organizations.
Activities
Employment (6)
Education and qualifications (5)
Professional activities (8)
Funding (12)
KEMRI/CONF/FIN/6/101
17-359 RG/CHE/AF/AC_I – FR3240297746
DVCR/NRF/VOL.1/85
KEMRI/CONF/FIN/6/101
Works (32)
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