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Blessing Airhihen

Blessing Airhihen

Senior Lecturer

Biosciences

Role

Dr Airhihen is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and serves as the Course Leader for Physiology and Pharmacology. She leads and contributes to teaching various Pharmacology modules across integrated foundation year, L4, L5, L6 and Masters, bringing practice-based learning into the classroom.

Passionate about enhancing the student experience, Dr Airhihen employs innovative pedagogy and co-creation in her teaching design and practice at NTU. Her research career has been predominantly focused on early-phase drug discovery in oncology, screening of small molecules, target identification, generation ,validation and protein therapeutics.

Career overview

  • January 2022 - Date: Senior Lecturer – Pharmacology. Department of Biosciences, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK.
  • October 2020 – January 2022: Senior Research Scientist - Discovery Biology. AstraZeneca Cambridge, UK.
  • March 2020 - July 2021: School of Biosciences, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK. Hourly Paid Lecturer
  • May - October 2019: Scientist, Antibody Discovery and Protein Engineering, AstraZeneca Cambridge, UK
  • 2013 – 2018 PhD Researcher. School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham, UK
  • 2005 - 2018 Pharmacology Lecturer. Pharmacology and Toxicology Department, Faculty of Pharmacy. Niger Delta University. Nigeria.
  • 2003 - 2004 Hospital Pharmacist. Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa, Nigeria.
  • 2002 - 2003 Hospital Pharmacist. Central Hospital Benin City, Edo State Nigeria.

Research areas

Career interest are centred around molecular analysis of the CCr4-Not deadenylases, relevance to cancer, characterisation of small molecule inhibitors of the human CCr4-NOT complex.

Other interests include the repurposing medicines in neurodegeneration.

External activity

Collaborations with:

  • University of Nottingham
  • ELRIG

Publications

  1. Book Author publication, Quantitative Biochemical Analysis of Deadenylase Enzymes Using Fluorescence and Chemiluminescence-Based Assays. Blessing Airhihen et al, October 2023. Parts of Methods in Molecular Biology book series (MIMB, volume 2723)
  2. Enhancement of Module Teaching and Learning Quality through pedagogic innovation in NTU Pharmacology, Airhihen B et al, 2023 Conference paper presentation, Bioscience Education Summit, Liverpool UK, 2023
  3. Frequent loss of BTG1 activity and impaired interactions with the Caf1 subunit of the Ccr4-Not deadenylase in non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Hibah Ali Almasmoum, Blessing Airhihen, Claire Seedhouse and Gerlof Sebastiaan. Feb 2021
  4. Airhihen B et al. 2019. 1‐Hydroxy‐xanthine derivatives inhibit the human Caf1 nuclease and Caf1‐containing nuclease complexes via Mg2+‐dependent binding. Feb 2019.
  5. The Central region of CNOT1 and CNOT9 stimulate deadenylation by the Ccr4-Not nuclease module. Lorenzo Pavanello, Benjamin Hall, Blessing Airhihen and G.S, Winkler, 2018.
  6. PhD Thesis: Molecular analysis of the Ccr4-not Deadenylase: Relevance to human disease. December 2017.
  7. Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-Nociceptive Activities of Stem-Bark Extracts and Fractions of Carpolobia Lutea (Polygalaceae). Lucky Legbosi Nwidu, Blessing Airhihen, and Augustine Ahmadu. J Basic Clin Pharm. February 2017
  8. Characterisation of drug-like inhibitors of deadenylase enzymes by AMP detection and differential scanning fluorimetry. Airhihen B, Winkler GS. Conference paper, British Pharmacological Society annual meeting, December 2016.
  9. Discovery, synthesis and biochemical profiling of purine-2,6-dione derivatives as inhibitors of the human poly(A)-selective ribonuclease Caf1. Jadhav GP, Kaur I, Maryati M, Airhihen B, Fischer PM, Winkler GS. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2015 Oct.
  10. The enzyme activities of Caf1 and Ccr4 are both required for deadenylation by the human Ccr4-Not nuclease module. Maryati M, Airhihen B, Winkler GS. Biochem J. 2015 Jul.
  11. Bioaccumulation of Heavy Metals and Hydrocarbons in Hemichromis Fasciatus Exposed to Surface Water in Borrow Pits Located Within Onshore Oil Exploration and Production Area.E. N. Vaikosen, B. U. Ebeshi, B. B. Airhihen. Environment and Pollution; Vol. 3, No. 3; 2014.
  12. A fluorescence-based assay suitable for quantitative analysis of deadenylase enzyme activity Maryati, Maryati; Kaur, Ishwinder; Jadhav, Gopal; Olotu-Umoren, Loyin; Oveh, Blessing; Hashmi, Lubna; Fischer, Peter; Winkler, Gerlof. NAR-01795-Met-G-2013.
  13. Mechanism of crude oil induced Abortion in rats. Oveh.B. and Nwankwoala R.N.P. Research journal of medicine and medical sciences, 2009, INSInet Publication.
  14. The Prevalence of Tuberculosis and Leprosy in Primary Health Care Levels in Rivers State, Nigeria. Nwidu L. L, Blessing O, Abanee P. S. K. Biomed. Pharmacol. J.2008.
  15. Comparative Invitro Study of Ibuprofen Tablets Used as Anti-inflammatory and Analgesics in Niger Delta Areas, Nigeria. Nwidu, L.L, Oveh, B, Okoriye, T and Vaikosen, N.E.  Asian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Clinical Research 1:27-32 · January 2008.
  16. Assessment of the water quality and prevalence of water borne diseases in Amassoma, Niger Delta, Nigeria. L. L. Nwidu 1, B. Oveh, T. Okoriye and N. A. Vaikosen. September 2008.

Course(s) I teach on