Dr. Julian Makau

jmakau@kemri.go.ke

Dr. Martin Bundi

Dr Elizabeth Matey

Dr. Aggrey Mokaya

Mr. Hillary Imire

Mr. Kevin Mataya

Mr. Brian Orwa

Mr. Charles Syengo

Ms. Judy Nyagah

Ms. Margaret Kamau

Ms. Margaret Gikuni

Mr. Francis Mwangi

Mr. Wilson Achola

Ms. Joy Kubai

Mr. Dexta Gakuha

Ms. Irene Koech

Ms. Lucy Wasilwa

Ms. Maryan Ali

Dr. Rose Bosire

Dr. Christine Bii

Dr. Luna Kamau

Dr. Julian Makau

Faculty Member

Biography

Dr. Makau is a research scientist at KEMRI and a postdoctoral researcher at the KEMRI Graduate School of Health Sciences. She is a holder of a Career Development Fellowship funded by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) for a period of three years from 2020-2023. Her study titled ‘Determination of HIV-1 drug resistance among patients failing second-line treatment in Kenya using an in-house phenotypic assay’ aims at developing and validating a novel assay for isolating infectious human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from clinical samples and testing for drug resistance.

The global efforts to combat the HIV pandemic are being hampered by the increasing prevalence of resistance to HIV drugs. The testing of HIV drug resistance is crucial in determining the best treatment regimen especially for patients with a history of treatment failure. Though there are assays commercially available for HIV drug resistance testing, they mainly rely on amplifying selected genes of the virus and this leaves out minor drug resistant variants as well as other genes of the virus that may also confer resistance. In this project, a new assay will be developed that will enable us to capture and isolate infectious
HIV from clinical samples and test for resistance. This study will give insights into the complexity of HIV drug resistance in Kenya and assist to guide the selection of effective treatment regimens for optimal viral suppression. This project is part of the EDCTP2 programme supported by the European Union (Grant number: TMA2019CDF-2716).

Education

  • PhD in Medical Sciences (2017), Nagasaki University in Japan
  • MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences (2013), Nagasaki University in Japan
  • BSc in Medical Laboratory Science (2011), Kenyatta University.

Selected Publications

  • Satoshi Mizuta, Hiroki Otaki, Takeshi Ishikawa, Juliann Nzembi Makau, Tomoko Yamaguchi, Hikaru Nono, Ryo Nishi, Yoshimasa Tanaka, Noriyuki Nishida, Ken Watanabe. Lead optimization of influenza virus RNA polymerase inhibitors targeting PA-PB1 interaction. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 2022; 65(1):369-385. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01527
  • Juliann Nzembi Makau, Ken Watanabe, Hiroki Otaki, Satoshi Mizuta, Takeshi Ishikawa, Yuji O. Kamatari, Noriyuki Nishida. A quinolinone compound inhibiting the oligomerization of nucleoprotein of influenza A virus prevents the selection of escape mutants. Viruses. 2020; 12(3):E337. https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/12/3/337
  • Juliann Nzembi Makau, Ayako Kitagawa, Kanami Kitamura, Tomoko Yamaguchi, Satoshi Mizuta. Design and development of an HBT-based ratiometric fluorescent probe to monitor stress-induced premature senescence. ACS Omega, 2020;5(20):11299-11307. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsomega.9b04208
  • Makoto Sumiyoshi, Taiga Miyazaki, Juliann Nzembi Makau, Satoshi Mizuta, Yoshimasa Tanaka, Takeshi Ishikawa, Koichi Makimura, Tatsuro Hirayama, Takahiro Takazono, Tomomi Saijo, Shintaro Shimamura, Kazuko Yamamoto, Yoshifumi Imamura, Koichi Izumikawa, Katsunori Yanagihara, Shigeru Kohno, Hiroshi Mukae Novel and potent antimicrobial effects of caspofungin on drug-resistant Candida and bacteria. Scientific Reports. 2020;10(1):17745. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-74749-8
  • Ratika Rahmasari, Heri Setiawan, Rezi Riadhi Syahdi, Ayun Arifianti, Marina Ika Irianti, Rani Sauriasari, Juliann Nzembi Makau, Muhareva Raekiansyah. SARS-CoV-2: Virology and Drug Repurposing Approaches. Pharmaceutical Sciences & Research. 2020;7 (Special Issue on COVID-19):29-38. https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/psr/vol7/iss4/4/
  • Satoshi Mizuta, Juliann Nzembi Makau, Ayako Kitagawa, Kanami Kitamura, Hiroki Otaki, Kodai Nishi, Ken Watanabe. Synthesis of trifluoromethyl-α,β-unsaturated lactones and pyrazolinones and discovery of influenza virus polymerase inhibitors. ChemMedChem. 2018; 13(22):2390-2399. https://chemistry.europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cmdc.201800511
  • Juliann Nzembi Makau, Ken Watanabe, Takeshi Ishikawa, Satoshi Mizuta, Tsuyoshi Hamada, Nobuyuki Kobayashi, Noriyuki Nishida. Identification of small molecules inhibitors of influenza A virus using in silico and in vitro approaches. PLoS One. 2017; 12(3):e0173582. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0173582
  • Ratika Rahmasari, Ananda Hanny Chairunissa, Marina Ika Irianti, Roshamur Cahyan Forestrania, Ayun Arifianti, Herman Suryadi, Juliann Nzembi Makau, Ibrahim Jantan, Berna Elya. Inhibitory and anti-biofilm effects of Orthoshipon aristatus against Candida albicans. Pharmaceutical Sciences & Research. 2020;7 (3):132-137. https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/psr/vol7/iss3/2/
  • Juliann Nzembi Makau. Pinto beans as a functional food for influenza prevention. Annual Research Report 2019. Takano Life Science Research Foundation. Ibaraki, Japan. Pages 85-92 . https://www.takanofoods.co.jp/company/foundation/2019jyosei_kenkyu/2-3Juliann%20Nzembi%20Makau.pdf
  • Juliann Nzembi Makau, Ken Watanabe, Magdy M.D Mohammed, Noriyuki Nishida. Antiviral activity of peanuts (Arachis hypogea L.) skin extract against human influenza viruses. Journal of Medicinal Food. 2018; 21(8):777-784 . https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/jmf.2017.4121
  • Satoshi Mizuta, Hiroki Otaki,Kanami Kitamura,Kodai Nishi, Ken Watanabe, Juliann Nzembi Makau, Ryo Hashimoto. Toshiya Usui, Kenya Chiba. 3,3-Dibromo-2- trifluoromethyl acrylic acid ethyl ester: A versatile platform for the stereoselective preparation of functionalized- α-trifluoromethyl α,β-unsaturated lactones and trifluoromethyl pyrazolinones. Organic Chemistry Frontiers. 2016; 3:1661-1667. https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2016/qo/c6qo00360e
  • Juliann Nzembi Makau, Ken Watanabe, Nobuyuki Kobayashi. Anti-influenza activity of Alchemilla mollis extract: Possible virucidal activity against influenza virus particles. Drug Discoveries & Therapeutics. 2013; 7(5):189-195. https://www.ddtjournal.com/article/722
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