PHARMACY GEORGE AMABEOKU
George Amabeoku is a Professor in and head of the division of pharmacology in the School of Pharmacy. His research specialty, traditional medicine, was inspired by the popularity of plant medicines among South Africans, especially those in rural communities who are often unable to access Western medicines and treatment. Amabeoku found that most of the data on the effectiveness of plant medicines are based on oral and personal communications, ie anecdotal evidence. He saw a need for scientific validation of the success stories of traditional medicine practitioners, while simultaneously promoting acceptance by the wider society. At present there is very little information on the interplay between plant medicines and the central nervous system; Amabeoku’s current research therefore focuses on the evaluation of the neuropsychopharmacological properties of traditionally used medicinal plants using basic pharmacological methods. One such project investigates the anticonvulsant activity of the leaf methanol extract of Crassula arborescens (a succulent plant native to the Western Cape) in mice. His research, and the potential of that work, has secured him funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF) until 2018. Amabeoku, an NRF-rated established researcher, is regularly published in the International Journal of Pharmacology and is currently supervising two master’s students.
21
SAREL MALAN
Sarel Malan is Professor and Director of the School of Pharmacy at UWC. He holds a C2 rating from the National Research Foundation (NRF), and is a fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa. Malan’s current research centres on drug design and molecular modelling, looking at novel entities with ion channel – membrane proteins that play an important role in the nervous system – or neuroprotective activity. He is also interested in pro-drugs, ie drugs that are administered in an inactive form but which are then activated inside the body through enzymatic or chemical processes. Malan is also investigating the influence of chemical structure and conformation (the arrangement of atoms in the molecule) on physicochemical properties and the ability of a drug to pass through biological membranes, especially to deliver drugs to the brain. He has over the past decade received two rounds of research funding from the NRF and the Medical Research Council; one for the study on the neuroprotection of novel polycyclics (molecules with two or more rings of atoms); the other for research that looked at enhancing the neuroprotective activity of drugs and privileged structures linked to polycyclic moieties (specific groups of atoms within a molecule). Among many other appointments, Malan serves on the World Health Organisation Expert Advisory Panel on International Non-proprietary Names and on the Pharmaceutical and Analytical Committee of the South African Medicines Control Council. He is a multiple winner of the Best Publication in Pharmaceutical Chemistry award of the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences of South Africa. Malan has supervised 50 master’s and seven doctoral students.