Dr. Conrad Simoben, Veranso
Conrad Simoben, Veranso
Tel. ++49 345 5525194
e-mail: conrad.veranso(at)student.uni-halle.de
Search for Natural Products Inhibitors and Modulators of Epigenetic Targets in Anti-malarial Drug Discovery
Malaria remains one of the world’s most serious, prevalent and parasitic tropical diseases with the highest global mortality (approximately 90 % of which occurred in Africa, with children under ages of five and pregnant women being the most vulnerable). This can be attributed to the constant evolution of the malaria parasite (Plasmodium falciparum, the main causative agent of malaria infection in humans). This has rendered even the cheapest and most widely available anti-malarial treatments ineffective; attributable to the development of multiple drug resistance by the P. falciparum parasite.
Multiple studies have suggested that the P. falciparum parasite relies on histone deacetylases (HDACs) and histone methyltransferases (HMTs) in controlling gene expression. These mechanisms are largely dependent on epigenetic processes and stands as the main drive for the search of new anti-malaria inhibitors and modulators from nature of Epigenetic Targets. In this work, we seek to identify and/or develop potent and less toxic natural product inspired compounds from our in house natural product libraries for compounds isolated from African medicinal plants that could be subject to further development as anti-malarial agents against epigenetic targets.
Publications (selected):
Publication Highlights
Book Chapters
Aurélien F. A. Moumbock, Conrad V. Simoben, Ludger Wessjohann, Wolfgang Sippl, Stefan Günther, Fidele Ntie-Kang: Computational Studies and Biosynthesis of Natural Products with Promising Anticancer Properties. Natural Products and Cancer Drug Discovery, Edited by Farid A. Badria, 01/2017; InTech Open., ISBN: 978-953-51-5277-4, DOI:10.5772/67650
Conrad V. Simoben, Fidele Ntie-Kang: African medicinal plants: an untapped reservoir of potential anticancer agents. Cancer Preventive and Therapeutic Compounds: Gift From Mother Nature, Edited by Sahdeo Prasad, Amit K Tyagi, 02/2016; Bentham Science.
Selected Journal Publications
Jelena Melesina, Lucas Praetorius, Conrad V Simoben, Dina Robaa, Wolfgang Sippl: Design of selective histone deacetylase inhibitors: rethinking classical pharmacophore. Future medicinal chemistry 07/2018; 10(13)., DOI:10.4155/fmc-2018-0125
Conrad V Simoben, Fidele Ntie-Kang, Sergi H Akone, Wolfgang Sippl: Compounds from African Medicinal Plants with Activities Against Selected Parasitic Diseases: Schistosomiasis, Trypanosomiasis and Leishmaniasis. 04/2018; 8(24)., DOI:10.1007/s13659-018-0165-y
Conrad V Simoben, Dina Robaa, Alokta Chakrabarti, Karin Schmidtkunz, Martin Marek, Julien Lancelot, Srinivasaraghavan Kannan, Jelena Melesina, Tajith B Shaik, Raymond J Pierce, Christophe Romier, Manfred Jung, Wolfgang Sippl: A Novel Class of Schistosoma mansoni Histone Deacetylase 8 (HDAC8) Inhibitors Identified by Structure-Based Virtual Screening and In Vitro Testing. Molecules 03/2018; 23(3):566., DOI:10.3390/molecules23030566
Pascal Amoa Onguéné, Conrad V Simoben, Ghislain W. Fotso, Kerstin Andrae-Marobela, Sami A Khalid, Bonaventure T Ngadjui, Luc Meva’a Mbaze, Fidele Ntie-Kang: In silico toxicity profiling of natural product compound libraries from African flora with anti-malarial and anti-HIV properties. Computational Biology and Chemistry 12/2017; 72., DOI:10.1016/j.compbiolchem.2017.12.002
Fidele Ntie-Kang, Kiran K Telukunta, Kersten Döring, Conrad V Simoben, Aurélien F A Moumbock, Yvette I Malange, Leonel E Njume, Joseph N Yong, Wolfgang Sippl, Stefan Günther: NANPDB: A Resource for Natural Products from Northern African Sources. Journal of Natural Products 06/2017; 80(7)., DOI:10.1021/acs.jnatprod.7b00283
Fidele Ntie-Kang, Conrad Veranso Simoben, Berin Karaman, Valery Fuh Ngwa, Philip Neville Judson, Wolfgang Sippl, Luc Meva’a Mbaze: Pharmacophore modeling and in silico toxicity assessment of potential anticancer agents from African medicinal plants. Drug Design, Development and Therapy 04/2016; Volume 10(Issue 1):2137-2154., DOI:10.2147/DDDT.S108118
Conrad V Simoben, Akachukwu Ibezim, Fidele Ntie-Kang, Justina N Nwodo, Lydia L Lifongo: Exploring Cancer Therapeutics with Natural Products from African Medicinal Plants, Part I: Xanthones, Quinones, Steroids, Coumarins, Phenolics and other Classes of Compounds. Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry (Formerly Current Medicinal Chemistry - Anti-Cancer Agents) 12/2014; 15., DOI:10.2174/1871520615666150113110241
Fidele Ntie-Kang, Justina N Nwodo, Akachukwu Ibezim, Conrad V Simoben, Berin Karaman, Valery F Ngwa, Wolfgang Sippl, Michael U Adikwu, Luc M Mbaze: Molecular Modeling of Potential Anticancer Agents from African Medicinal Plants. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling 08/2014; 54(9):2433–2450., DOI:10.1021/ci5003697
Conrad V Simoben, Fidele Ntie-Kang, Lydia L Lifongo, Smith B Babiaka, Wolfgang Sippl, Luc Meva’a Mbaze: ChemInform Abstract: The Uniqueness and Therapeutic Value of Natural Products from West African Medicinal Plants. Part 3. Least Abundant Compound Classes. RSC Advances 08/2014; 4:40095-40110., DOI:10.1039/C4RA05376A
Lydia L. Lifongo, Conrad V Simoben, Fidele NTIE-KANG, Smith B Babiaka, Philip N Judson: A Bioactivity Versus Ethnobotanical Survey of Medicinal Plants from Nigeria, West Africa. 02/2014; 4(1):1-19., DOI:10.1007/s13659-014-0005-7
Conference Proceedings (selected)
Conrad VERANSO Simoben, Dina Robaa, Fidele Ntie-Kang, Wolfgang Sippl: Search for natural products inhibitors and modulators of epigenetic targets in anti-parasitic drug discovery.. European School of Medicinal Chemistry (ESMEC), Accredited by the European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC), Urbino, Italy; 07/2018
Conrad VERANSO Simoben, Fidele Ntie-Kang, Wolfgang Sippl: Designing of a drug-like natural compound library for secondary metabolites collected from the African flora.. 11th International Conference on Chemical Structures (ICCS),, Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands.; 05/2018
Conrad V Simoben, Fidele Ntie-Kang, Wolfgang Sippl: A secondary metabolite library from East African sources for in silico drug discovery. Annual Meeting on Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry March 11 – 14, 2018 in Jena, Germany, Jena, Germany; 03/2018, DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.16139.39202
Fidele Ntie-Kang, Kiran K Telukunta, Kersten Döring, Conrad V Simoben, Aurélien F A Moumbock, Yvette I Malange, Leonel E Njume, Joseph N Yong, Wolfgang Sippl, Stefan Günther: Presenting Northern African Natural Products Database (NANPDB): A web-accessible and downloadable resource for natural products from Northern Africa. Nordic Natural Products Conference 2017, Odense, Denmark; 06/2017
Fidele Ntie-Kang, Kiran K Telukunta, Kersten Döring, Conrad V Simoben, Aurélien F A Moumbock, Yvette I Malange, Leonel E Njume, Joseph N. Yong, Wolfgang Sippl, Stefan Günther: NANPDB: A web-accessible and downloadable resource for natural products from Northern African sources. 11th European Workshop on Drug Design, Siena, Italy; 05/2017
Conrad V Simoben, Fidele Ntie-Kang, Luc M Mbaze, Wolfgang Sippl: Reviving the grave-yard of natural products isolated from West African medicinal plants. 12th German Conference on Cheminformatics, Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker e.V. (German Chemical Society), Fulda, Germany; 11/2016
Fidele Ntie-Kang, Kiran K Telukunta, Kersten Döring, Aurélien F A Moumbock, Yvette I Malange, Leonel E Njume, Conrad V Simoben, Wolfgang Sippl, Stefan Günther: Construction of a natural products database from Northern African sources. 21st EuroQSAR: Where Molecular Simulations Meet Drug Discovery, Verona, Italy; 09/2016
Conrad V Simoben, Fidele Ntie-Kang, Lydia L Lifongo, Philip N Judson, Luc M Mbaze, Wolfgang Sippl: Exploring ethnobotanical uses of the African flora for the search of target-based anti-cancer agents using mechanism-based assays.. PACN Congress 2015 - Healthcare: From discovery to delivery, Nairobi, Kenya; 11/2015
Conrad V Simoben, Fidele Ntie-Kang, Lydia L Lifongo, Luc M Mbaze, Wolfgang Sippl: A chemotaxonomy and chemoinformatics analysis of natural products from African flora with anti-cancer like activities. PACN Congress on Biodiversity and Global Challenges: A chemical sciences approach, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 11/2014, DOI:10.13140/2.1.4510.7523
Research profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Conrad_Simoben