DELSU Student Wins Int’l Nuero Research Competition

The Vice-Chancellor of Delta State University, Abraka, Prof. Andy Egwunyenga, has congratulated Miss Uche Esther Festus, a final year Pharmacology and Therapeutics student of the University for winning the 2024 NEURONEXUS competition titled “The Future of Neuro Scientific Research”.

The Vice-Chancellor made this known today in his office in Abraka while reacting to the breakthrough in the undergraduate student’s research project on the global stage.

Egwunyenga described the recognition of the contributions of Miss Festus’ undergraduate research project to the field of knowledge on epilepsy by the Brain Wellness Initiative (BWI), an international non-profit brain research organization based in South Africa, as evidence that Delta State University, Abraka, is making progress in its commitment to research in the interest of humanity.

He thanked her project supervisor, Dr Ben-Azu Benneth, the Principal Investigator of the DELSU Joint Canada-Israel Neuroscience and BiopsychiatryLaboratory and his postdoctoral fellow, Dr Aliance Romain Fokoua, from the Department of Animal Biology, University of Dschang, Cameroun, for the good mentoring of Miss Festus, describing it as a remarkable accomplishment of the joint partnership project.

Miss Festus’ research, which investigated the potential nephroprotective effects of naturally occurring flavonoids on kidney oxidative stress markers in mice exposed to alcohol-precipitated seizures following pentylenetetrazol-induced kindling, was adjudged as the best in the 2024 NEURONEXUS competition that took place on October 12, 2024.

The 2024 symposium and award ceremony for undergraduates, was organized by BWI, an international non-profit brain research organization based in South Africa and founded by Prof. Amadi Ihunwo, the Head of the School of Anatomical Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in partnership with the Youth Neuroscience Association of Nigeria. The second position was shared by Patrick Kilanga (Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, United Republic of Tanzania) and AnushkaDesai (Mithibai College, India), while the third position was shared by Amir Yahaya (Usmanu Danfodio University, Nigeria) and OluwapelumiSolagbade (Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria).

Miss Festus, who received a travel grant from the DELSU Joint Canada-Israel Neuroscience and Biopsychiatry Laboratory to present her research findings at the 2024 Neuroscience Society of Nigeria Conference, reveals from the research that epilepsy and alcohol use disorder are increasingly prevalent and co-occurring, given the tension-relieving properties of alcohol, which notably serve as a coping mechanism against the anxiety and social stigmatization associated with epilepsy (a neuropsychiatric disease characterized by recurring, unprovoked seizures and often related to neurobiological sequelae such as cognitive impairment and social and organ damage).

The research however notes that the understanding of how seizures exacerbate alcohol-related kidney impairment remains incomplete due to less well-characterized pathophysiological mechanisms. She therefore calls for novel therapeutic interventions in this regard.