FUOYE Lecturers win TETfund grants on researches to solve national issues

The Federal University Oye-Ekiti has recorded another milestone in research excellence as scholars from the institution secured the prestigious 2024 National Research Fund (NRF) grants of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund). A press statement signed by the University’s Special Adviser on Media Matters, Dr..Wole Balogun, and made available to newsmen in Ado-Ekiti on Thursday, disclosed that researches would solve some national issues on energy, menace of fake news and cancer.

The statement reads in part: “The Director of Research and Development, Professor Olayide Lawal, of the Department of Chemistry, received the 2024 National Research Fund (NRF) grant to undertake rigorous research on non-fossil-based alternative energy production from plant biomass. Lawal, a Professor of Chemistry, will lead his team to work on Sustainable Energy Production Via Catalytic Thermochemical Conversion of Water Hyacinths and Upgrading of their Crude Bio-Oil Via Ultrasound. The focus will be to synthesize novel catalysts for thermochemical conversion of waste biomass to biofuel, that will be upgraded through physicochemical processes to serve as energy sources that may be used to generate heat and also meet diverse energy demands.
According to him, since biofuels serve as green, less harmful, and sustainable energy resources, the project hopes to address diverse environmental problems relating to fossil-based energy exploration and processing through the alternate energy production. The underpinning here is the production of clean energy from a biomass produced by an invasive aquatic weed. Professor Olayide Lawal emphasized that the research is a multidisciplinary project that will involve the knowledge of scholars drawn from both sciences and engineering to provide a holistic approach for obtaining a biorefinery prototype for biofuel production. According to Lawal, who is the principal investigator, findings will contribute significantly to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal on climate change and energy security. Other members of the team are Professor Olatunde Oyelaran, Department of Mechanical Engineering (FUOYE); Professor (Mrs.) Pauline Chris-Okafor, Nnamdi Azikwe University, Awka, Anambra State; Dr. Abiodun Adeoye and Dr. Kehinde Sodeinde, Department of Chemistry (FUOYE); Dr. Akeem Akinfenwa, Summit University, Offa Kwara State; Dr. Beatrice Bello, Principal Researcher at the Nigerian Institute for Marine Research (NIOMR); Mrs. Memunat Olagoke , a Senior Research Officer at the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI); Mr. Imam Naziru and Miss Rukayat Quadri, Department of Chemistry, FUOYE.

“In the same vein, another scholar in the university, Dr Toyin Onayinka, the current Head of the Broadcasting Department, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies (FCMS) also won the 2024 NRF grant to create a national hub on fake news and misinformation. The interdisciplinary research project combines natural language processing, machine learning, and mixed-methods fieldwork to map how On-Air Personalities (OAPs) and social media influencers contribute to the spread of misinformation and disinformation; create a large annotated dataset for Nigeria; and deploy an accessible Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) tool that flags, classifies, and visualises falsehoods in real time. The project, when completed, will create a national hub for the tracking, monitoring, and evaluation of falsehoods in the Nigerian Media space with dashboards and analytical reports on falsehoods in the media space for public/ private organisations. policymakers, regulators, and media organisations. The project initiation is paramount in a time where falsehoods and manipulated narratives can accelerate societal polarisation and erode public trust in both private and public institutions.
Apart from Onayinka, a new media studies specialist, other team members are: Dr. Jacob Kehinde Opele (FUOYE – Information Management), Dr. Lawrence Bunmi Adewole (FUOYE, Artificial Intelligence), Dr. Chioma Ifeoma Agbasimelo (UNIZIK, Strategic Communication), Dr. Blessing Vou Dakat (UNIJOS, Pragmatics/Discourse), Mrs. Grace Oluwakemi Onipede (Junior researcher from FCMS, FUOYE).

In a related development, Assoc. Professor Emmanuel Adelaja Bamigbola, Head of the Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, in the Faculty of Pharmacy, FOUYE, also won the third grant by scholars in FUOYE. Bamigbola’s research focuses on the Translational Research and Drug Delivery (TREDD). According to Bamigbola, who is the Principal Investigator, the research focuses on curbing the Menace of Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer with Novel Plant-Derived Anticancer Nanodrugs.

Co-researchers include Assoc. Prof. Adekunle Theophilus Adegbuyi, of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, FUOYE, Assoc. Prof. John Oludele Olanlokun of the Department of Biochemistry, University of Ibadan and Dr. Abiodun Abioye Oyeleke of the Department of Anatomy, FUOYE. Other members of the team are Dr (Mrs) Ifesinachi Concilia Iyeh of the Department of Animal and Environmental Biology, FUOYE, and Miss Adepero Olubukola Awolesi of the Department of Pharmacognosy and Herbal Medicine, FUOYE.

Upon completion, the team will develop an innovative nano-engineered plant-derived therapy to curb the menace of breast and prostate cancer which are the most prevalent types cancer in women and men respectively. The team intends to isolate and characterize bioactive compounds from plants with anticancer activities and apply the latest cutting-edge nanotechnology in the formulation of novel anticancer drug delivery systems. The novel plant-derived nanodrugs are expected to optimize the activities of the isolated bioactive compounds by improving their stability, bioavailability, potency, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamic, target specificity of cancer cells, and reduction in toxicity and multidrug resistance.

Bamigbola further said, “the team will further embark on preclinical studies using experimental animals to compare the therapeutic efficacy and safety of the novel anticancer drugs with the plant extracts of bioactive compounds and selected contemporary anticancer drugs currently used for cancer treatment”. Speaking further, the university don said the innovative therapy is expected to exhibit better efficacy and less toxicity compared to raw plant extracts of bioactive compounds and conventional chemotherapeutic agents. The team intends to escalate the work to the clinical stage based on the outcome of the preclinical investigation.