Miss
Melisa
Sithole
I am a young lady scientist with passion for protecting people and animals against outcomes such as infection, symptomatic illness, hospitalisation and death through vaccine development which entails the use of several techniques such as molecular biotechnology, microbiology and bioinformatics. I completed my honours degree in Biochemistry and a masters degree in Biotechnology from the University of Zimbabwe. At the moment , i am working at the National Biotechnology Authority as a senior Research officer, were my portfolio is mainly vaccine development using recombinant biotechnology for both human and animal vaccines using different expression systems such as yeast, bacteria, plants and viruses.
I am a young lady scientist with knowledge in vaccine development which entails the use of several techniques such as molecular biotechnology, microbiology, immunology and bioinformatics. I am currently working as a senior research officer at the National biotechnology Authority of Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of the Ministry, whose mandate is to spearhead biotechnology research and innovation through product development.My research intrests basically lie on the quest to decrease hospitalisation and deaths of animals and humans through delivery of safe and effective vaccines. Im intrested in understanding all the principles of vaccine development from the upstream processes ie inoculum development, inoculation, fermentation, product recovery which is subequently followed by downstream processes such as purification, product formulation and polishing. I am also intrested in the use of animal models in conducting pre clinical trials so as to establish an effective dosage.
For animal vaccines , I am on the development of vaccines for diseases such as rabies, Newcastle and foot and mouth disease. I have an appreciation of microbiology and molecular techniques such as DNA and RNA isolation, amplification assays including different Polymerase chain reactions using universal and specific primers which is subsequently followed by cloning and transformation into expression vectors. The process of vaccine development encompasses firstly selecting an antigenic substrate, in the case of SARS-CoV-2, I’m using both the Nucleocapsid and spike proteins of the virus to elicit an immune response. Techniques such as cloning are then used to clone the gene of interest into suitable vectors which include bacteria, yeast and plants. Protein production is then induced using IPTG which is then followed by protein purification using High Performance Liquid Chromatography and 3D modelling of protein in order to understand the structure of the protein and its mode of action. Vaccine development also entails preclinical trials and clinical trials in order to test for vaccine efficacy and establishing an effective dosage. I have used several animal models including rabbits, rats and monkeys in understanding and establishing an effective dosage through the evaluation of immunological antibodies that are observed after injections. In vaccine production , all the above mentioned laboratory processes must be conducted under strict guidelines such as good manufacturing practices so as to ensure patient safety as well as maintenance of sterile conditions.
Currently, we have finished formulation of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine as well as insulin and we are currently in the process of registration with the regulatory board Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ).The MCAZ regulatory authority has strict guidelines to ensure patient safety. Their guidelines are mostly focused on implication of good Laboratory practices, good clinical practises, good clinical laboratory practices and good manufacturing practice.