Dr Ekene Anakor PharmD, PhD

• PhD in Life and Health Sciences, Ulster University, 2022
• MSc in Pharmaceutical Analysis (with Distinction), University of Strathclyde, 2015
• Doctor of Pharmacy, University of Benin, 2010

Ekene Anakor is from Nigeria and qualified as a pharmacist, obtaining a Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree from the University of Benin, Nigeria (2010). He was class valedictorian and recipient of the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria prize for the Best Graduating Student in the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin (statutory body responsible for the regulation and control of pharmacy education in Nigeria).

With a growing interest in drug discovery and development, Ekene was awarded a Commonwealth Shared scholarship to study Pharmaceutical Analysis (MSc) at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, United Kingdom where he obtained a Distinction (2015). He soon returned to Nigeria where he was employed as a Lecturer in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Benin contributing to teaching and research in the following modules: Instrumental Methods for Pharmaceutical Analysis; Drug Design & Analysis of Pharmaceutical dosage forms.

In 2018, Ekene started a PhD in Health and Life Sciences, which focused on the interplay between extracellular vesicles (EVs) and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) under the supervision of Dr Stephanie Duguez and Dr William Duddy. This work provided significant insights into the role of skeletal muscle-derived EVs in the propagation of toxic entities in ALS. The thesis highlighted vesicle-type specificity in neurotoxicity and identified EV uptake mechanisms that could be therapeutically targeted (with small molecules and antibodies).

Upon completion of his PhD, Ekene commenced a Darby Rimmer MND Foundation funded Postdoctoral Research position at the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN), University of Sheffield under the supervisions of Dr Adrian Higginbottom, Professor Kurt De Vos and Professor Dame Pamela J. Shaw. Here, he was introduced to translational academic drug discovery as well as learning and applying molecular and cellular biology approaches to neurodegenerative diseases. Particularly, he developed cellular models of C9orf72-ALS and FTD dipeptide repeat proteins (DPRs) pathology (focus: arginine-containing DPRs- PR & GR). These cellular models were used in a drug repurposing screening campaign to identify small molecules with brain penetrance capable of lowering the levels of arginine-containing DPRs.

In 2023, Ekene was selected as a Research Fellow at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Milton Park, Oxford as part of the Vertex Fellows program. This is a distinctive year-long industry postdoctoral program that combines formal training with hands-on experience in the science and business of drug discovery and development. This program allowed Ekene to collaborate directly with research project teams & make contributions to disease areas while further building his skills and competencies.

In January 2025, Ekene joined the School of Pharmacy, University of Birmingham to begin an independent research career.

• Pharmacy MPharm (4-year)

Ekene is interested in supervising research projects themed around the following areas:

• Pathological (cellular and molecular) mechanisms in neurodegenerative diseases
• Drug discovery and development activities for neurodegeneration
• High-content screening (automated imaging and quantitative data analysis)
• Disease-relevant cellular models
• Drug repurposing & High Throughput Screening.
• Assay development and miniaturization.
• Extracellular vesicles as biomarkers and tools for therapeutics delivery.
• Method development for pharmaceutical analysis.

If you are interesting in studying any of these subject areas, please contact Dr Ekene directly, or for any general doctoral research enquiries, please email mdsgradschool@contacts.bham.ac.uk

My research interests are currently in the following areas:

• Cellular and molecular mechanism implicated in neurodegenerative diseases, with a focus on Motor Neurone Disease (MND) & related dementias.
• Protein homeostasis in neurodegenerative diseases.
• Development and validation of disease-relevant cellular models for neurodegenerative & neuromuscular diseases.
• Drug discovery and development activities that identify new therapeutic strategies/modalities for neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases.
• Identification, development, and validation of biomarkers with a special focus on extracellular vesicles.