Dr Laychiluh Mekonnen

 I am a passionate pharmacologist with more than 5 years of teaching pharmacology to medicine, pharmacy, nursing, and midwifery students. I also served as program manager of college of medicine and health sciences, and head of department of pharmacology at Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia.

I joined University of South Australia after winning the commonwealth RTP/IPRS scholarship and pursued my PhD in pharmacology under the supervision of Professor Shudong Wang. My PhD research was focused on the pre-clinical evaluation of novel CDK4/6 inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. My technical and intellectual expertise acquired over the years through working in both academic and industrial areas of research embody a wide range of skills and knowledge in the fields of drug discovery, cancer cell biology, pharmacology, and toxicology.

My PhD work led to the identification of two promising drug candidates; one is a first in class CDK4 inhibitor while the other is the most potent dual CDK4/6 inhibitor. The later one has been approved by the TGA for phase Ia/b clinical trial for the treatment of glioblastoma and other advanced solid tumours. I have published more than 10 scientific articles and abstracts in reputable journals during my PhD. My internship with Aucentra gave me the platform to work with and understand the requirements and expectations of industries. Working as a research associate in cancer institute of clinical and health sciences, UniSA, I have been doing in vivo combination strategies to lay the basis for ongoing and prospective clinical studies. I am interested in drug development, cancer cell biology, mechanistic investigation of drug action, in vivo pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies, and in vivo efficacy studies.

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy University of South Australia

• Master of Science in Pharmacology Addis Ababa University

• Bachelor of Pharmacology Jimma University