Oluwatoyin Asojo

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Oluwatoyin Asojo
Born
Nigeria
Alma materInternational School Ibadan
Pearson College UWC

University of Houston

Trent University
Scientific career
FieldsCrystallography, proteins, drug resistance, pathogens, mechanisms
InstitutionsUniversity of Houston

Tibotec

University of Nebraska Medical Center

Oluwatoyin (Toyin) Asojo is Associate Professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Hampton University.[1] She was formerly an Associate Professor of Pediatrics-Tropical medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine.[2] She works at "the interface of math, chemistry, biology, computation."[3] She is a crystallographer and interested in structural studies of proteins from neglected tropical disease pathogens.[4]

Early life and education

Asojo was born in Nigeria, and volunteered at an orphanage whilst at school.[5] Her father was a chief laboratory scientist at the University of Ibadan, and she would spend several hours a week in the lab.[5] She attended the International School Ibadan and applied for a United World College scholarship that would allow her to study abroad, and was one of only seven from 10,000 applicants to be selected.[5] She earned an International Baccalaureate diploma in 1989 from Pearson College UWC. In 1993 Asojo completed a Dual Honours degree at Trent University, majoring in Chemistry and Economics.[6] She received a full scholarship for her studies.[7] Asojo earned a PhD at the University of Houston in 1999.[8]

Research

Asojo has conducted research in industry, academia and government. After graduating, Asojo was appointed a postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute.[8] She spent a year as a staff scientist at Tibotec in Rockville, Maryland.[5] In 2003, Asojo joined University of Nebraska Medical Center as an Assistant Professor.[8] She simultaneously managed the X-Ray crystallography facility at Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases.[8] Here she studied membrane proteins involved in multi-drug resistance.[5] She was awarded two National Institutes of Health grants in 2005, studying alternative treatments to the Hookworm infection.[5] She held an adjunct position at Olabisi Onabanjo University.[5]

Asojo is now at Hampton University in Hampton, VA where she is an associate professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry.[9] Asojo was previously based at the Baylor College of Medicine, where her lab are dedicated to the production, purification and crystallization of proteins.[8] She shares equipment with the Sabin Vaccine Institute.[8] Since 2001 she has coordinated summer research projects for disadvantaged high school students through the American Chemical Society Project SEED.[8] She is on the Fulbright Specialist Roster between 2016 and 2021.[7] She won the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship in 2016.[7] Since 2014, Asojo has been an editor for Nature's Scientific Reports[10] and an associate editor specializing in crystallography for BMC Structural Biology.[11]

Awards and honors

2004 - Gladys Pearson Fellowship in Pediatric Cancer[12]

2006 - University of Nebraska at Omaha Woman of Color Award[5]

2015 - Gordon Research Conference Carl Storm Underrepresented Minority Fellowship[7]

2016 - Fulbright specialist[13]

2016 - Society for Science & the Public Science Advocate Grant program[14]

2016 - Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship in 2016.[7]

2017 - Baylor College of Medicine Norton Rose Fulbright Faculty Excellence Award in Teaching[7]

Selected publications

Asojo's most cited publications include:[15]

  • Asojo, O. A., Goud, G., Dhar, K., Loukas, A., Zhan, B., Deumic, V., ... & Hotez, P. J. (2005). X-ray structure of Na-ASP-2, a pathogenesis-related-1 protein from the nematode parasite, Necator americanus, and a vaccine antigen for human hookworm infection. Journal of molecular biology, 346(3), 801-814.
  • Asojo, O. A., Gulnik, S. V., Afonina, E., Yu, B., Ellman, J. A., Haque, T. S., & Silva, A. M. (2003). Novel uncomplexed and complexed structures of plasmepsin II, an aspartic protease from Plasmodium falciparum. Journal of molecular biology, 327(1), 173-181.
  • Nachon, F., Asojo, O. A., Borgstahl, G. E., Masson, P., & Lockridge, O. (2005). Role of water in aging of human butyrylcholinesterase inhibited by echothiophate: the crystal structure suggests two alternative mechanisms of aging. Biochemistry, 44(4), 1154-1162.
  • Asojo, O. A., Afonina, E., Gulnik, S. V., Yu, B., Erickson, J. W., Randad, R., ... & Silva, A. M. (2002). Structures of Ser205 mutant plasmepsin II from Plasmodium falciparum at 1.8 Å in complex with the inhibitors rs367 and rs370. Acta Crystallographica Section D: Biological Crystallography, 58(12), 2001-2008.
  • Hotez, P. J., Asojo, O. A., & Adesina, A. M. (2012). Nigeria:“Ground Zero" for the High Prevalence Neglected Tropical Diseases. PLoS Negl Trop Dis, 6(7), e1600.

References

  1. ^ "Dr. Oluwatoyin A. Asojo". AFRICA CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR MYCOTOXIN AND FOOD SAFETY. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  2. ^ "Scientists reveal structure of potential leishmaniasis vaccine". medicalxpress.com. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  3. ^ "Oluwatoyin Asojo". American Chemical Society. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  4. ^ "Oluwatoyin Asojo". American Chemical Society. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h "Dr. Asojo receives UNO Women of Color award | UNMC". www.unmc.edu. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  6. ^ "Oluwatoyin Ajibola Asojo, Ph.D." Baylor College of Medicine. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "OLUWATOYIN ASOJO | Profiles RNS". profiles.viictr.org. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g "Oluwatoyin Asojo - American Chemical Society". American Chemical Society. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  9. ^ "Oluwatoyin Asojo". Hampton University. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
  10. ^ "Editors | Scientific Reports". www.nature.com. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  11. ^ "BMC Structural Biology". BMC Structural Biology. Retrieved 2020-07-12.
  12. ^ "Spotlight on new faculty - meet Oluwatoyin Asojo, Ph.D. | UNMC". www.unmc.edu. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  13. ^ "SACI2018". www.saci.co.za. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  14. ^ "Society for Science & the Public Announces 31 New Mentors of the Advocate Grant Program | Society for Science & the Public". www.societyforscience.org. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  15. ^ "Oluwatoyin A. Asojo - Google Scholar". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2020-09-13.

External links

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