Understanding the immune control of HPV-mediated cervical pre-cancer: from the bench to the bedside
Understanding the immune control of HPV-mediated cervical precancer; from the bench to the bedside—Ademola Aiyenuro, PhD in Pathology
Before Cambridge
I was born in Kano state, the Northern part of Nigeria. In the mid-90s, my parents were poultry farmers and as such I spent significant years of my childhood living in the major Northern states of Nigeria. My parents hail from Ilaje local government, a riverine community in Ondo state, South-Western Nigeria. I grew up in Lagos, the commercial hub of Nigeria. I had my primary and high school education in Lagos state, with the aspiration of becoming a clinician. Benjamin Carson was my role model. In 2012, I enrolled for a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, in the southwestern part of Nigeria. I developed a primary interest in microbial pathogenicity and antimicrobial resistance. In the penultimate year of my undergraduate degree program, I secured an internship placement as a medical laboratory scientist at St. Kizito clinic-Loving Gaze, Lagos, Nigeria. This is a health care centre providing therapeutic and diagnostic services for people living with HIV and/or Tuberculosis. I became motivated to apply knowledge from my classroom to the clinical laboratory.
Upon completion of my internship and my undergraduate degree program, I was employed as a medical laboratory scientist at the same clinic and as a public health expert for a Tuberculosis eradication program hosted by the clinic in coordination with private health centres in Lagos state. The programme provides therapeutic and diagnostic services for people living with Tuberculosis, some of whom were living with HIV. I became more aware of the challenges in the early diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases, especially among Nigerian teenagers. Whilst working for three years in the clinic, I coordinated outreach programmes for free HIV testing among teenagers in my local community, most notably the annual HIV testing on World AIDS Day. I have been keen to make a positive difference in my society.
My work experience in Lagos fuelled my passion for providing compassionate care and controlling the menace of sexually transmitted diseases among Nigerian teenagers and young adults. This passion led me to apply for and earned me a prestigious Cambridge Trust Commonwealth Scholarship (2020) for an MPhil in Pathology at the University of Cambridge, where I studied the cellular origin of cervical precancers and disease patterns in different populations of women.
My research at Cambridge
Transitioning from a diagnostic lab in Lagos to a research lab in Cambridge was not easy at first, especially as I had to do my MPhil during the COVID-19 restrictions period, with only limited opportunity to interact with other members of the lab and socialise via college, faculty, and society events. However, the PhD experience has been nothing short of amazing so far. I have been able to socialise and get along with every member of the lab as well as the community of Nigerians and Africans here in Cambridge.
After my MPhil, I secured a research assistantship position in the same lab where I continued on the project and recruited additional clinical samples. In 2022, thanks to the interest in the results from my MPhil research leading to a generous donation of the National Cancer Institute, USA, I secured funding for my PhD. I am now investigating the role of the immune system in controlling Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection at the cervix. I am analysing immune cells in archival tissue samples from Odense (Denmark) hospital. This provides an extensive understanding of the diversity of immune cell types in the cervix. I am working with pathologists and epidemiologists at the National Cancer Institute, USA, Hospital de clinic, Barcelona (Spain), and National Health Laboratory Services, Johannesburg (South Africa). As a member of a team, I am analysing disease patterns in tissue samples obtained from women treated for cervical precancers (Barcelona). These include samples from women living with HIV and on antiretroviral therapy (from research collaborators in Johannesburg). To clarify the role of immune cells in disease regression, I am using tissues from rabbits, an animal model which is a unique time course of lesion regression that provides a valid comparison in the understanding of the human samples. I am also providing technical support to a team of clinical pathologists in Kenya who are interested in replicating some of my work.
Memorable moments in Cambridge
I found cycling quite interesting, I never knew how to cycle before coming to Cambridge, however, I learnt it during my first year, and as such it's now a hobby of mine. In my free time, I cycle across long roads with some friends. In this post-pandemic era, I have had the opportunity to participate in the community of Nigerian and African students’ events. Most notable was the trip to London where we had a boat cruise, lunch at a Nigerian restaurant, and met other Nigerian students who joined us from Oxford - it was an Oxbridge Nigerian students funfair. I have also had social and dinner nights with members of my lab, the most exciting was a karaoke night.
In July 2022, I had my abstract accepted for an oral presentation at the DNA Tumor Virus Meeting hosted at Churchill College in Cambridge. It was the first one I attended post-COVID era, a memorable experience as I had the opportunity to interact with academics from different parts of the world. I have also attended formals at different colleges, the most exciting was the one with members of my lab at Hughes hall.
My plans for the nearest future
In 2021, I co-established a mentorship platform, Research4Knowledge for African students. Where I contribute my knowledge and skills via mentorship in improving bioscience education among early-career Nigerian researchers. A few out of the large community of vibrant, young, and excellent Nigerian students have been significant beneficiaries of this platform. I seek to consolidate my mentorship and training programmes to continually bridge the knowledge gap and inspire excellent and ambitious African students as they kick-start their careers in biological sciences. I hope that after my PhD, I will be an independent leading researcher in cancer biology and immunology, thereby creating innovations in cancer biology for improved diagnosis and treatment in Africa.