Kenyan part of team edging closer to finding HIV cure

Ten years ago, a young Kenyan student left the country for further studies in the US with just a degree in chemistry.

When he sat down with the Nation during his first return since he left, one could hardly deduce that the young man seated calmly at the reception had just joined a pool of niche scientists, in whom the world hinges its hopes for a cure for HIV.

ELIMINATE VIRUS

At 37, Benson Edagwa is not only a principal author or major contributor to more than 30 published biomedical papers in peer-reviewed journals, but is also listed as an inventor on 12 US patent applications.

But his most popular work revolves around a recently published research study, which shows that a cure for HIV could be on the horizon.

Three weeks ago, a journal, Nature Communications, reported that Prof Edagwa, and a team of researchers, had successfully eliminated HIV in living mice.

“For me, the driving force behind my focus on finding a treatment for HIV is personal. I’ve lost friends and family to the disease, and my country, Kenya, is still reeling from the disease,” he said.

With an estimated 19.6 million people in East and Southern Africa — 1.5 million Kenyans — living with HIV and about 380,000 recorded deaths, the journey to getting a cure seems to be nearing the homestretch.

Unless treated, HIV can turn into Aids that damages the immune system.

Prof Edagwa did an undergraduate degree in Chemistry at Moi University’s Chepkoilel Campus before enrolling into a master’s programme and later completing a PhD at the Louisiana State University (LSU) in 2012. He accepted a position at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre (UNMC) the same year.

In a study involving 29 mice, in some of the animals, the team used a combination of gene-editing technology (CRISPR) and a therapeutic treatment called Laser Art to erase HIV DNA from the genes of animals in what has been considered unprecedented.

But if it were not for Prof Edagwa’s wife, Dr Teresa Mutahi, this study would probably not have been accomplished.

“You know, it is funny that this great success came from my desire to have peace at home. My wife constantly asked if I had completed the project, which I had to hide from my boss because for him, the idea seemed crazy,” recounts the assistant professor of pharmacology at UNMC.

“So I pursued the project to the end.”

DISMISSED FEAT

Five years down the line, Edagwa’s idea bore fruit and buy-in with his supervisor. When he first told his supervisor who is also an expert on HIV about the idea he had, his senior dismissed the feat as impossible.

But that did not discourage him. That evening when I got home, I told my wife, a biology professor, about it and she urged me to pursue it.

“Every day I got home she would ask for a progress report. Yet, at work, my boss wanted me to focus my attention on what he deemed better ideas. Oftentimes it’s impossible to please everyone so after weighing my options, I decided to have peace at home by concluding the research,” the father of two said.

So, he went back to the lab to work with students and if an idea worked in the laboratory, he would push it forward.

“Many discoveries are realised when you work with a diverse team which complements each other’s skills. Growing up, I neither attended the best schools nor did I get the best grades but I worked hard, was passionate and shared my observations,” he said. Prof Edagwa is the only chemist in the team of 27.