Dr Clarina N’Da is an early career scientist, highly motivated and dedicated to her work. She joined the joined the research group of Prof. JJ Bergh and Prof J.P Petzer within the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus in 2007 as a postgraduate student. Since joining the Department, she has consistently distinguished herself by her dynamism and exceptionally good scientific research skills, coupled with her leadership in assisting of postgraduate students.
She finished her MSc in one year (2007) with a cum laude, and received the North West University Merit Award for distinction and proceeded to do her PhD in 2008 in the same department. Her research focuses on designing, synthesizing and evaluating potential compounds as inhibitors of monoamine oxidase for treatment in Parkinson’s disease. During her research studies, she was dedicated and successfully completed her studies and graduated in 2012 with excellent results as seen below:
The following serves to illustrate Dr N’Da’s standing as a researcher and academic: During her PhD studies, she published several outstanding articles from her research, one of which led to her obtaining the award of “Top 10 Cited Author” Elsevier Award for 2011- 2012 for the journal Bio-organic & Medicinal Chemistry in recognition of her outstanding research in 2013. This research project has since produced the most potent compound to date as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor in the department, which is indeed an outstanding achievement. Her PhD thesis was titled “The synthesis and evaluation of pthalimide analogues as inhibitors of monoamine oxidase B”.
She was selected to attend and present her PhD research work in 2010 at the prestigious Third World Organization for Women in Science (TWOWS) Fourth General Assembly and International Conference held at the Great Hall of the People, and the Beijing International Convention Center (BICC), Beijing, China, hosted by the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS). Her entire postgraduate studies were funded by the Third World Organization for Women in Science (TWOWS) in Trieste, Italy and the North West University.
Dr N’Da continued her research work with postdoctoral studies at the North West University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Centre of Excellence for Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences (PHARMACEN) Owing to her outstanding research capabilities, she received the prestigious Innovation Postdoctoral Fellowship of the National Research Foundation (NRF) for research on “The Synthesis and Evaluation of Novel Compounds with Dual MAO and Acetylcholinesterase Inhibition” This innovative strategy could result in compounds that could be used as potential drugs in the treatment of both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, two main neurodegenerative diseases that are of global concern. During the course of her research, Dr N’Da has collaborated with leading international researchers. To date, she has authored or co-authored several full-length research papers in leading international peer-reviewed journals and has presented her research findings in several international and local conferences, in China, United States of America, Netherlands, Cyprus to name a few. She has had several Research and Training Fellowships from United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), Exxon Mobil, United States of America, Organization for Women in Science in the Developing World (OWSD) in Trieste, Italy and the National Research Foundation amongst others.
She is always ready to learn and contribute to the future growth of her profession and continued career advancement, self-development and being a source of inspiration to others especially women in science is her greatest passion. As an early career scientist, she has identified herself with various research supportive platforms to enhance competence as a researcher and expert in her discipline.
Her specialty includes Medicinal chemistry, small molecule drug discovery, multi-step organic synthesis, invitro biological assay, neurodegenerative diseases, pharmaceutical technology, analytical chemistry, scientific Project management (PMBOK®), Quality assurance.