Dr Alexandré Delport

Dr Alexandré Delport graduated with a PhD in biochemistry in 2020 after completing a thesis focusing on the characterisation of an important protein involved in the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease. Her love of science started as a young child as her parents encouraged her interest. A promising start to her career - performing well in scientific subjects at school - naturally led to her completing a Bachelor of Science degree at university, where her interest in Biochemistry was sparked at the end of her first year.

 Dr Delport has since enjoyed a successful career, being awarded an NRF award in 2020 in Research Excellence for Next Generation Scientists, an honour bestowed upon one female NRF funded final year PhD student in the field of Life Sciences. In 2022, she was chosen to attend the 71st Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Germany, where she was able to meet and talk with the Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry, Medicine and Physiology – an unforgettable experience. Being awarded a research grant from the MRC in 2022 allowed Dr Delport to begin funding and conducting her own independent research. She is proud of her most recent achievement of the L’Oréal for Women in Science Young Talents award, and to represent South African women in Science.

 Dr Delport is currently working as a Post-Doctoral fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg conducting research into whether targeted protein degradation could be used to treat obesity.

 Targeted protein degradation is a novel form of biotechnology which has exploded over the past 5-10 years, that can be used to target specific proteins for removal. This technology has potential in treating certain metabolic disorders such as obesity as it reduces the proteins that are known to be upregulated in these disorders.

 As a global health pandemic, obesity represents a severe health problem. In South Africa, there are more obese women than men (40% vs 11% according to a national survey conducted in 2019) making this challenge uniquely important for South African women in science.

One of the causes of obesity is adipose (or fat tissue) dysfunction. The research that Dr Delport is conducting has resulted in a method of restoring the function of adipose tissue, which in turn results in weight loss. The hope is to optimise this technology to treat obesity in the future.

 Most research on obesity is conducted on male subjects, but Dr Delport and team are working on optimising their targeted protein degradation technology and ensuring that it is equally as effective in females as in males. If successful, this research will significantly contribute to the development of a potential commercial product.

 The idea for this project was born from the success of a preclinical pilot study using a traditional male obesity model. Dr Delport felt that by ensuring the protein degraders are tailored to work as well in females as in males would be greatly important, and ensure the success when transitioning from preclinical to clinical studies. She believes that the research conducted on this project and the data it produces has the potential to impact the South Africa and global scientific community, as well as individual lives.

 The project is not without challenges, Alexandré has had to expand her knowledge in the field of medicinal chemistry, as well as overcome the challenge of synthesising the protein degraders on a larger scale, but is hopeful that new collaborations can be fostered in the near future to overcome this.

 The promising results achieved so far have sparked interest from the pharmaceutical industry and resulted in start-up funding being awarded to Dr Delport in order to further develop this technology. Her goal is to develop the first targeted protein degradation drug discovery platform in South Africa through a sustained relationship with the pharmaceutical industry.

 Dr Delport’s advice to young girls aspiring to a career in science is to take their time. Reflecting on a particularly challenging period in her career when she was unsure of her decision to pursue a career in science, Alexandré described how taking a break and some time to find the right path ultimately led her to her current field of study and passion. “Science is not for the faint hearted; perseverance, hard work and passion are incredibly important when embarking on a scientific career,” she says.