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Abraham Badu-Tawiah

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Abraham Kwame Badu-Tawiah
Alma materKwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
Indiana University
Purdue University
Scientific career
InstitutionsOhio State University
ThesisAdsorption isotherms of diamond-packed columns in reverse phase liquid chromatography (2010)
Doctoral advisorR. Graham Cooks
Other academic advisorsGeorge M. Whitesides

Abraham Badu-Tawiah is a Ghanaian scientist who is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the Ohio State University. His research considers the development of mass spectrometry for the detection of disease. In 2017 he was awarded the American Chemical Society Arthur F. Findeis prize and in 2020 a Sloan Research Fellowship.

Early life and education

Badu-Tawiah is from rural Ghana.[1] He was one of three graduates of a high school class of 500 that went on to attend university.[1] He earned his bachelor's and master's degree at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. [2] In 2005 he moved to the United States, where he joined the laboratory of R. Graham Cooks at Purdue University to study high-performance liquid chromatography.[3][4] There he studied reactions in mass spectrometers, and started to investigate whether this unique environment could be used for synthesis.[1] Whilst at Purdue, Badu-Tawiah was awarded several research fellowships, including the Andrews and Lilly Innovation Fellowships.[2][5] In 2012 Badu-Tawiah joined Harvard University where he worked in the research laboratory of George M. Whitesides. There he developed paper-based systems capable of performing molecular recognition.[5] In particular, Badu-Tawiah looked to develop macrofluidic platforms that could analyse for specific biomarkers.[1] Unfortunately, the enzymes required to detect biomarkers on paper-based platforms are not stable and require careful storage.[1]

Research and career

Badu-Tawiah was appointed Assistant Professor at the Ohio State University in 2014.[6] His research considers new mass spectrometry techniques for the detection of disease. Mass spectrometry offers several advantages over macrofluidic platforms, as they remain stable.[1] To achieve this he makes use of cleavable ionic probes that can be used to perform immunoassays.[5] These probes can be attached to antibodies and mounted to a flexible substrate for screening without refrigeration.[1] He made use of wax ink to trace out the outline of the channels of the device, forming a waterproof barrier that separates that safely captures and stores the blood sample.[7] Badu-Tawiah has worked on devices that can allow the early-detection of malaria and Zika virus.[1] In 2016 he demonstrated that these simple diagnostic tests were able to accurately diagnose whether someone was infected with malaria up to one month after blood was collected, and that patients could send them by mail to research labs.[7] Alongside malaria diagnosis, the tests are capable of identifying the cancer antigens that are markers for cancers of the large intestine.[7][8]

Alongside disease detection, Badu-Tawiah works on novel analytical devices for photo- and electro-catalytic screening.[1][5]

Awards and honours

Select publications

  • Müller, Thomas; Badu‐Tawiah, Abraham; Cooks, R. Graham (2012). "Accelerated Carbon-Carbon Bond-Forming Reactions in Preparative Electrospray". Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 51 (47): 11832–11835. doi:10.1002/anie.201206632. ISSN 1521-3773.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Using What's Available for New Discovery" (PDF). 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ a b "Abraham Badu-Tawiah | The Badu Research Group". research.cbc.osu.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  3. ^ Badu-Tawiah, Abraham Kwame (2010). Adsorption isotherms of diamond-packed columns in reverse phase liquid chromatography. OCLC 721996335.
  4. ^ "Microdroplets rev up chemical reactions". Chemical & Engineering News. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  5. ^ a b c d e "ASMS Awards" (PDF). ASMS. 2018. Retrieved 2020-08-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ "Abraham K. Badu-Tawiah". CAICE. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  7. ^ a b c "Testing for malaria—or cancer—at home, via cheap paper strips". Testing for malaria—or cancer—at home, via cheap paper strips. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  8. ^ "Scientists Think a Simple Paper Strip Could Tell if You Have Cancer or Malaria". Fortune. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  9. ^ "Dr. Abraham Badu-Tawiah Receives Award for the Early Career Research Program". chemistry.osu.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  10. ^ "Badu-Tawiah receives 2017 Eli Lilly Young Investigator Award in Analytical Chemistry". chemistry.osu.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  11. ^ "2018 Division Award Winners". ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. 2018-02-10. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  12. ^ "Chemistry's Badu-Tawiah and Lindert named 2020 Sloan Research Fellows". College of Arts and Sciences. 2020-02-11. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
  13. ^ "Badu-Tawiah and Lindert named Sloan Research Fellows". www.chemistry.ohio-state.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
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