Department of Medicinal Chemistry Our People Detail

Specialization:

Proteomics, Post translational modification, Phosphoproteomics, Bacterial proteomics, Mass spectrometry, protein biomarkers, metabolomics

Research Interests:

Career objective: Seeking to work within the proteomics field to pursue a career in all levels of research and development. Area of expertise: Bacterial Proteomics; Host pathogen interaction; Mechanism of antibacterial resistance; Current Main Research interest: Search for disease biomarkers and drug therapy

Contact

nsoares@sharjah.ac.ae
(+971) 65 05 7763
+(971) 6 5585812

Education

Ph.D. 2008, New University of Lisbon-ITQB, Lisbon-Portugal, Wound-Related changes in the Apoplast proteome of Medicago truncatula and their association with early steps of ROS signal transduction pathway (With distinction) BSc, 2001, University of Westminster-School of Biosciences, London-England. Degree on Biochemistry and Microbiology (with Honours 2.1)

Employment History

(a)Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry within the College of Pharmacy of the University of Sharjah, Present (b)Coordinator of IDM Metabolomics & Proteomics Core Facility, University of Cape Town, South Africa, 2017-July 2019 (c)Junior Research Fellow, Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, University of Cape Town, South Africa, 2013-July 2019 (d)Postdoctoral, Proteome Centre Tübingen, Universität of Tübingen, Germany, 01 March 2011 - 31 December 2012 (e)Postdoctoral fellowship Programa Angeles Alvariño-Xunta de Galicia, Complexo Hospitalario A Coruña-Unidad de Investigacion Biomedicas de A Coruña, University of La Coruna, Spain, 01 January 2010 - 31 December 2012 (f)Post-doc contract by Red Española para La Investigación en Patologia Infecciosa(REIPI), Complexo Hospitalario A Coruña-Unidad de Investigacion Biomedicas de A Coruña, University of La Coruna, Spain, 02 May 2007 - 31 December 2009

Professional Activities

Research and teaching.

Professional Memberships

2018- Advanced Proteomics Workshop and 1st South African Proteomics Symposium- Faculty of Health Sciences Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, 20-22nd and 23rd of August 2018 University of Witwatersrand –Role: Part of the Organizing and Scientific committee 2016- Research Day- Faculty of Health Sciences Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, 1st September 2016 University of Cape Town –Role: Part of the Organizing and Scientific committee 2016- 6th ACGT Proteomics Workshop 04-05 February 2016: University of Cape Town Role: Part of the Organizing and Scientific committee 2014- Mass Spectrometry Master Class 14-16th October 2014: University of Cape Town Role: Part of the Organizing and Scientific committee Acted as Chair: 2016- South African Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology-Congress. Chaired session “Bioinformatics & Omics”, 11th July 2016 East London-South Africa 2016- Research Day- Faculty of Health Sciences Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, 1st September 2016 University of Cape Town

Selected Research Projects

I. Title: "Targeted Phosphoproteomic Analysis of Infected Macrophages to identify Targets for Tuberculosis Drug Discovery." Financed by: National Research Foundation-Research and Inovation Support and Advancement-South Africa. Period: 2019-2021. Grant No: 118561 PI: Dr. Nelson C Soares Number of participants: 8 Participants: Soares N.C., Blackburn JM, Mijakovic I, Nakedi KC, Shell D, John Iradukunda. Role: Principle Investigator II. Title: "Definition of Ser/Thr/Tyr phosphorylation networks in Mycobacterium- Infected Macrophages." Financed by: National Research Foundation-Research and Innovation Support and Advancement-South Africa. Period: 2016-2018. Grant No: 98963. PI: Dr. Nelson C Soares Number of participants: 8 Participants: Soares N.C., Blackburn JM, Warner D, Mijakovic I, Mulder N, Nakedi KC, Nel AJM, Ganief N, Albeldas C. Role: Principal Investigator

Selected Publications

I.Nakedi KC, Calder B, Banerjee M, Giddey AD, Nel AJM, Garnett, Blackburn JM* and Soares NC*. “Identification of novel physiological substrates of Mycobacterium bovis BCG Protein Kinase G (PknG) by label-free quantitative phosphoproteomics” (2018) Molecular Cellular Proteomics, 2018 Mar 16 pii: mcp.RA188.000705. doi: 10.1074/mcp.RA118.000705. II.Albeldas C, Ganief N, Nakedi KC, Calder B, Garnett S, Nel A, Blackburn JM* and Soares NC*. (2017) “Global proteome and phosphoproteome dynamics indicate novel mechanisms of vitamin C induced dormancy in Mycobacterium smegmatis .” J Proteomics. doi:10.1016/j.jprot2017.10.006 III.Giddey AD, de Kcok E, Nakedi KC, Garnett S, Nel AJ, Soares NC*, Blackburn JM*. (2017) “A temporal proteome dynamics study reveals the molecular basis of induced phenotypic resistance in Mycobacterium smegmatis at sub-lethal rifampicin concentrations.” Sci Rep. 2017 Mar 6;7:43858 IV.Adeola HA, Soares NC, Paccez JD, Kaestner L, Blackburn JM, Zerbini LF. (2015) “Novel urinary prostate cancer biomarker identification using label-free MS1 quantification in a multi-ethnic cohort of South Africans patients“. Proteomics Clin Appl 2015 Jun;9(5-6):597-609

Theses and Projects Supervision

Ph.D. Thesis 1 Master Theses 4 Honors/Interns 7

Awards Recognitions

Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine (IDM)-University of Cape Town (UCT) Postgraduate student publication competition award (2019): Nakedi et al., 2018 “Identification of novel physiological substrates of Mycobacterium Bovis BCG Protein Kinase G (PknG) by label-free quantitative phosphoproteomics.” Molecular & Cellular Proteomics (2018); mcp-RA118. IDM-UCT Postgraduate student publication competition award (2018): Albeldas et al., 2018 “Global proteome and phosphoproteome dynamics indicate novel mechanisms of vitamin C induced dormancy in Mycobacterium smegmatis.”Journal of Proteomics (2018); Jprot.

Services

I am often invited to peer review manuscripts from Journals such as Nature Communications, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Frontiers in Microbiology, Molecular Cellular Proteomics, Journal of Proteome Research, Journal of Proteomics, Proteomics, Proteome Research.

Teaching Philosophy

I believe that teaching/learning is the responsibility of everyone involved the students, lecturer, and institution. Ultimately the success of individuals is only being measured if the class is successful. I strongly believe in the potential of the group to achieve pre-established goals. In a modern world with access to information through social media and other forms of teaching such as Open University, what still differentiate us University is the group experience and shared responsibility. For example, during my classes/tutorials, I ask regular feedback from students, in cases that only 1 or 2 students can answer the question I often ask the student to explain to the rest of the class. By identifying the fast learner students and I expect that other students also go to them in case of question or doubts. My goals are to provide the class with general concepts at the same time stimulating interactive and participation and self-learning from the students. For example, with honors students normally make use of a blackboard to load videos about mass spectrometry, manuscripts, link to forums. This serves to encourage self-learning.