Ambeu-Loko N’ta Christelle Mélissa

  • Country of Origin: Côte d'Ivoire
  • Home University: University Felix HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY
  • Host University & Country: Nantes University - France
  • PhD Title: Organic Chemistry
  • Year of Completion: 2026
Ambeu-Loko N’ta Christelle Mélissa

PhD Overview

The Research for which I have been granted by Schlumberger Foundation is in the field of drug design. It is based on the design and synthesis of small molecules enable to interact with tetraspanins (Tspans), with a view to acting on the reactions of the tumor microenvironment for therapeutic purposes. A second aspect of our work was to develop potential inhibitors of palmitoylation of Tspans. Indeed, the objective of our project is to study the use of tetraspanins (Tspans) as potential targets for therapeutic action on proliferative diseases. These proteins, whose functions are now fairly well known, are involved in many fundamental cellular processes such as adhesion, fusion or internalization, migration, communication as well as exosomes formation. Several reports have described the involvement of Tspans in regulating tumor cell mobility and invasiveness.

The pro- or anti-migratory activity of Tspans was linked with their effect on the adhesive and signaling function of integrins and metalloproteinases. Futhermore, several Tspans may influence tumor cell migration by regulating cell-cell interactions in the tumor aggregates. Tetraspanin proteins can play an important role in supporting tumor cell proliferation and therefore, may also contribute to tumor cell growth at the primary site. At cell surface, Tspans can regulate the lateral diffusion, clustering, expression or activity of partner proteins as ion channels. This raises the possibility that Tspans function as molecular switches to regulate partner protein function and suggests that Tspans are viable future drug targets. The results will therefore be used primarily for valuation involving intellectual property (patent in progress).

Sustainability Goals

  • Good Health and Well-being
  • No Poverty
  • Zero Hunger

About Me

My personal motivation to take up a career in STEM especially to pursue a PhD and then a Post-Doc is based on my feeling for science and teaching since high school and my university studies. This feeling was reinforced by research activities that I carried out in my home country (Ivory Coast) since the first year of the master’s program.
I made my PhD research in Organic Chemistry at France’s University of Rennes 1 (France), which was focused on the development of multi-steps synthesis strategy of new compounds bearing several heterocyclic platforms (rhodanine, benzimidazole, pyrazole and imidazole) for multiple therapeutic use to fight malaria, leishmaniasis, cancer and neurodegenarative diseases. Thus, this research thesis linked to drug design, led to the synthesis of 169 compounds, 6 publications and 2 others in progress. The post-doctoral project granted by Schlumberger Foundation at Nantes University (France) was therefore of worldwide importance and more specifically for France and Côte d’Ivoire which are the two partner countries involved in this research way.

In 2019, I joined the association of women researchers in Ivory Coast (AFEMC-CI, 300 women researchers). Indeed, AFEMC-CI is an association that brings together teacher-researchers, researchers, master’s and doctoral students from all Universities and Research Centers in Ivory Coast. Its main mission is to ensure the professional development of women teachers and researchers. In addition, I am appointed section secretary of Science and Technology section of AFEMC-CI (grouping of women Teacher-Researchers and Researchers from 4 training and research units in science). Since October 2022, I am monitoring and evaluation assistant in the gender unit of AFEMC-CI.

Moreover, I would like to thank Schlumberger Foundation for granting me this scholarship for the 2023-2024 academic year. For this year, out of the 56 new nominations submitted to the Foundation Board for approval, fifteen (15) are from developing countries, four of which are new countries where no prize has ever been awarded which are Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, South Sudan and Uzbekistan. So, I am the first Ivorian to have obtained this prestigious prize, a high-level challenge, both national and international, which brings honors. Therefore, I created a WhatsApp platform that brings together potential Ivorian candidates for the FFTF program. As a result, two other Ivorian women have been awarded scholarships for the 2024–2025 and 2025–2026 academic years; more others ivorian will follow…

After completion, I returned to my home country (Côte d’Ivoire) and currently, I am a Teacher Researcher (lecturer) at University Felix HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY of Abidjan. In the field of science and technology, there are very few women teachers and researchers. For example, in my research team (Organic Molecules Synthesis Team in my home laboratory LCRM), I am the only female teacher-researcher out of 14 men. In that sense, I will continue to raise awareness among women and girls in STEM. “