Jephte Akakpo

Professional Background

I graduated with a B. S. in Biology in 2010 and an MS in Biological Engineering in 2015 from Wilkes University of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Subsequently, I entered the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences (IGPBS) at the University of Kansas Medical Center where I completed my PhD training in 2021. My graduate work focused on elucidating the cellular and molecular mechanisms of drug induced acute liver injury and subsequent repair.

• Ph.D. in Toxicology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS
• M.S. in Biological engineering, Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, PA
• B.S. in Biological sciences, Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, PA

Research

Overview

Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a prominent health concern as well as a major challenge for drug development worldwide. One of the most common causes of DILI in the western world is acetaminophen (APAP) overdose. In addition to liver injury, patients with APAP overdose also develop acute kidney injury, which is a syndrome that has progressively been recognized as a major cause of worsening patient prognosis after toxic APAP ingestion. Thus, my current research focuses on conducting translational studies to decipher the unclear renal mechanisms of injury after an APAP overdose. This work may reveal new biological targets exploitable in novel drug development to prevent renal complications after APAP overdose.

Bibliography

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/browse/collection/54946897/?sort=date&direction=ascending