About
PhD Candidate in Chemistry & Biochemistry
I'm a PhD candidate at New Mexico State University, advised by Dr. Marat Talipov, working at the intersection of molecular simulation, membrane protein biology, and computational drug discovery.
Education
Ph.D. in Chemistry and Biochemistry
New Mexico State University, USA
Advisor: Dr. Marat Talipov · Aug 2023 - Dec 2027 (expected)
M.S. in Chemistry
New Mexico State University, USA
Aug 2023 - May 2026
B.Tech. in Biochemistry
Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Nigeria
2012 - 2018
Teaching
Founder & Lead Instructor, SimLab Academy
Cohort-based computational chemistry and MD courses with hands-on GPU labs · 2026 - present
Graduate Teaching Assistant, New Mexico State University
General Chemistry I & II laboratory sections · Aug 2023 - present
Skills
Awards
- Winner, Biochemistry InterVarsity Competition, Ilorin (2016)
Professional affiliations
- American Chemical Society (2023)
- Society of General Physiologists (2024)
- Nigerian Bioinformatics and Genomics Network (2020)
Career
Research Experience
Across four countries and six placements - from genotoxicity work in Germany to computational drug discovery in Nigeria to membrane protein simulation today.
USA · Aug 2023 - present
PhD Student
New Mexico State University
Lead computational studies of the HER2 receptor and Piezo ion channels using all-atom and coarse-grained molecular dynamics, bioinformatics, and enhanced sampling. Collaborate on computational drug discovery projects - phytoene as a tyrosinase inhibitor, NEK4 protein inhibitors - and conduct experimental research on cancer cell lines (MCF7, MDA-MB-231): protein extraction, Western blotting, PCR, and signaling pathway characterization.
Nigeria · May 2020 - Apr 2023
Research Assistant, Phytomedicine & Computational Biology Laboratory
Central Research Laboratory, Adekunle Ajasin University
Therapeutic target and biomarker discovery, lead compound identification, and computer-aided drug design against cancer, SARS-CoV-2, and neurodegenerative diseases - homology/pharmacophore modeling, molecular docking, virtual screening, QSAR, MM-GBSA/MM-PBSA, and molecular dynamics.
Netherlands · Oct 2021 - Feb 2022
Research Assistant, Toxicology Laboratory
Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam
Evaluated the pharmacological and toxicological effects of pesticides on invertebrates.
Germany · May 2020 - Sep 2021
Research Intern, Dept. of Molecular Genetics
University of Duisburg-Essen
Elucidated chromosomal aberrations and DNA damage resulting from toxicant exposure in cultured fibroblasts and mammalian cell lines, including Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells, via designed genotoxicity experiments.
Nigeria · Mar 2018 - Oct 2019
Research Assistant, College of Medicine
University of Lagos
Extraction, purification, and qualitative/quantitative assay of phytochemicals, including enzymatic and toxicological profiling.
Nigeria · Feb 2017 - Nov 2017
Research Assistant
Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba, Lagos
Genomic DNA/RNA extraction, DNA Sanger sequencing, gel electrophoresis, PCR, in vitro culture, and ELISA.