Question: what is your most recent break through?

Yewande Oyekenu answered on 11 Jun 2018:

I have been one of the first scientists in Africa to discover that there is a difference in the way black men and women process the drug and recover after operation with general anesthesia, Thiopental and propofol with Halothane and Isoflurane (Drugs that put you to sleep/unconsciousness). I have also presented my findings in California at the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) meeting. A research breakthrough from Nigeria finding its way to America where I stood with the Chinese pharmacologist beside me who told me more about Chinese metabolism and I taught him metabolism in Blacks was definitely enough as a reward for hard work done.
(See link https://www.fasebj.org/doi/abs/10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.1064.3)
There are more vomiting, headaches and backaches incidence found in females due to the fact that they usually have more body fat than males. This drug is fat-loving, so it stays longer in the female creating more toxicity as they are not easily removed from the body unlike in men that the drug has lesser fat to bind to. This kind of study is called Pharmacology, where the mathematical calculation like the half-life of a drug, volume, clearance of the drug etc are calculated as well as clinical parameters like side effects.
This study had been done by previous scientists in White patients and Indians. But my study was done in African blacks which are slightly different from Black African Americans due to environmental and social factors. They are also different from Whites and Asians due to racial differences in genetic composition of drug metabolising enzymes.

The rate at which people such as Micheal Jackson (musician) and Joan Rivers (Fashion Crime TV show) have died from the anaesthetic drug propofol is worrying.

I will like to produce new drugs that are better than the current drugs like propofol and thiopental. These drugs manipulate the brain and put you in a state of unconsciousness till the surgery is over then the Anaesthetist reawakes you. I am working on how to study a racial difference to see if a Chinese man, for instance, may need more or less of the drug than a White or Black man because we are technically different genetically as our enzymes are in varying proportion so I challenge younger scientist to find out how much of a drug should be given to a woman and with age into consideration. I hope I get funding to carry out this type of research as all my research have been self-funded with support from my parents.