Profile
Yewande Oyekenu
My CV
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Education:
Federal Government College, Lagos Nigeria (1992-1997), B.Sc in Biochemistry at Olabisi Onabanjo University (2004), M.Sc in Pharmacology at University of Ibadan, Nigeria (2010-2011). PhD student in Cell Physiology and Pharmacology (Neuroscience) at University of Leicester,UK (2013-2015), Doctorate in Healthcare Management and Leadership at California Intercontinental University, USA (2018-2019)
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Qualifications:
Bachelors, Masters, Doctorate
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Work History:
UNICEF volunteer in HIV prevention,Hospital laboratory, Integrated Science teacher, Sales Representative for laboratory and engineering equipment, Life Insurance Marketer, Healthcare assistant for dementia and learning disabilities, Researcher in biochemistry, pharmacology, physiology, neuroscience e.t.c,
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Current Job:
Research Consultant
Freelance Care of Dementia and Learning Disabled Patients in my Spare time
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About Me:
I am an enthusiastic, dynamic and analytical scientist.
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I have made advancements in scientific research and I am a determined woman who thinks about the progress that will be made when scientists come together to solve global problems. I have presented my work at 8 international conferences and currently working on pharmacovigilance/post-market surveillance research on drugs affecting the brain.
I am a widow and live with my 15-year-old daughter who wants to be an Astronaut, hence I am able to relate to adolescents combined with previous experience working as an integrated science teacher and a UNICEF volunteer. I have lived in England since 2013 when my Doctorate Career started at the University of Leicester. I am currently rounding up a Doctorate degree in healthcare management at California Intercontinental University. I travel a lot and take my daughter with me whenever I relocate to keep a close eye on her.
I am a member of the British Pharmacological Society, and Society For Neuroscience (America), amongst others. I won an education award for pharmacology at our pharmacology conference in December 2019 in Scotland. I am happy to be able to get funding for childcare from my society, British Pharmacological Society to enable me to travel for the presentation of my work and get feedback from established researchers.
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My research interests are in Trauma, Brain repair, Anaesthesia and Pain Management. My major research skills are in Cell Culture of Brain cells (Cortical), Immunocytochemistry, Microscopy, High-Performance Liquid chromatography, recruiting patients for scientific research.
Nitric oxide is my major research molecule. It has been used in mice as an anaesthetic and I will like to test it in humans due to currently available anaesthetics having unwanted side effects. Nitric oxide is a gas occurring in nature and made up of one Nitrogen and one Oxygen molecule that has effects on several parts of the body especially the brain and the heart.
However, too much of everything is bad so I need to know how much of Nitric Oxide is too much concentration so that the drug can be monitored when produced. I cannot administer the drug to humans until tested in the laboratory, so I need a little portion of a mammalian brain cell and grow it in the incubator for 14 days. I make use of the cerebral cortex a part of the brain responsible for information processing. That way I add various concentrations of Nitric oxide and subtract some nitric oxide from the cells while they are growing in the incubator.
The major effect of this drug has been in Neurotransmission which implies that messages may be sent faster in the brain or slowly depending on the concentration of drug used. It has also been found that the Nitric Oxide already present in human brain cells decreases gradually from birth, hence it is prominent in newborn leading to their rapid brain development from age 0 to 2 years. A few of my research work is presented below:
(1) Picture of a 14 day old in vitro rat brain cell (Cortex) obtained from a one-day-old newborn Wistar rat showing effects of nitric oxide on neurotransmission
(2) Research in Human subjects on metabolism of Anaesthetic drugs; Propofol and thiopental maintained with halothane and Isoflurane. See link below
https://www.fasebj.org/doi/abs/10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.1064.3
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My Typical Day:
I am a researcher so I spend my days reading about work done by others before I enter the laboratory to avoid making the same mistakes made in previous work.
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I am currently working as a research consultant where I give advice to clients on how to carry out experiments and how to develop new drugs, cosmetics and foods for better profit.
My day involves reading and writing whenever I am not in the laboratory.
A typical laboratory day involves, dissection of mammalian brain, cell culture in an incubator, immunocytochemistry experiments, Taking pictures of brain cells in a dark room with a special microscope called Epifluorescence microscope.
A combination of Physics, Chemistry and Biology is highly required in the Neurosciences discipline.
I have to ensure that my discovery is made known to other researchers to help them in their research work so I attend conferences to present my work and this also serves as my holiday from work. I have met military researchers who work as biologists and neuroscientists. The usefulness of my research is that I can grow mammalian cells that may be used in transplant technology and conquer the problems of finding a transplant donor in medicine. Military men also tend to have head injuries easily and this research can go a long way to bring development.
Myself in the middle with 4 US ARMY researchers at the Experimental Biology Conference in San Diego, California 2014.
Myself (Right) and a classmate (Left) carrying out a biochemistry experiment. I am sensitive to flashlight, so don’t mind that my eyes were closed in the picture.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I will enlighten the public by giving a Public talk for parents and students about the dangers of alcoholism especially in children and its impact on the Accident and Emergency room
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
International Neuroscience Researcher
What did you want to be after you left school?
Paediatric Neurologist (Doctors looking after the brain of children), But I ended up as a Scientist studying the brain of newborn babies (Neonatal Neuroscientist)
Were you ever in trouble at school?
I was loved by many teachers as I was one of the best in my class so I hardly got into trouble. However,the word trouble is subjective. If I submitted my assignments before my other classmates I was in trouble with my mates.
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Beyonce
What's your favourite food?
Toast Bread with butter
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
(1) Be one of the people to find cures to neonatal (New born Babies) brain diseases 2) Go on a 3 month vacation (3) Buy a house in Hollywood
Tell us a joke.
Why didn`t the skeleton cross the road?. Choose the most humerus. Because (1) he had no guts inside of him (2) he had no-body to cross with him (3) everyone had a bone to pick with him
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