Professor Duedu is an Associate Professor of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Health and Allied Sciences. He is a Medical Laboratory Scientist and an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he led a team to establish the UHAS COVID-19 Centre first to test for infections and later to undertake research using genomic sequencing and other technologies to support the Public Health response to the pandemic.
Education
Professor Duedu studied BSc Medical Laboratory Science and MPhil Microbiology at the University of Ghana. He also studied for his PhD at the University of Edinburgh, UK and wrote a thesis on Novel Systems for Bioconversion of Cellulosic Biomass. He completed the African Partnership for Chronic Disease Research, Cambridge University, UK PostDoc Fellowship programme and the Novartis Global Health Fellowship at the Novartis Institutes of BioMedical Research, Cambridge MA, United States. He was TIBA Out of Africa Postdoctoral Fellow with the University of Edinburgh, UK.
Work Experience
Professor Duedu practiced as a Medical Laboratory Scientist for 4 years in the Ghana Health Service working at the National Public Health and Reference Laboratory (NPHRL) and the Clinical Laboratory Unit (CLU), Korle-Bu. In addition to routine laboratory work, he also worked on programmes such as the USAID Funded Improving Malaria Diagnostics Programme and the HIV external quality assurance programme at the NPHRL, Korle-Bu. He was a part-time lecturer at the School of Biomedical and Allied Health Sciences, University of Ghana where he taught parasitology to medical, dental and medical laboratory science students. He was also a tutor at the University of Edinburgh, UK from 2012 to 2015. In UHAS, he was appointed Lecturer from August 2015, Senior Lecturer from September 2017 and Associate Professor from November 2021. He has supervised several students at the undergraduate, masters and PhD levels. He was Head of the Department of Biomedical Sciences from August 2017 to July 2020 during which he led the development of the Postgraduate Programme (MSc/MPhil/PhD) in Biomedical Sciences as well as the establishment of the teaching laboratories in SBBS.
Science/Research Output
Professor Duedu has been a key figure in building laboratory capabilities for teaching and research in UHAS. He set up the Collaborative Laboratory for Research in 2015/16 at the Dave Campus which is currently being used by the School of Allied Health Sciences and the COVID-19 Laboratories and Research Laboratories at the School of Basic and Biomedical Science Campus. He has worked on several projects leading to over 40 publications. His publications span very high impact journals including Nature Communications and Science as well as local and regional journals. He has received several grants from funders including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, African Academy of Sciences, Novartis, British Council, UK Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), TIBA, The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), among others.
His current research are in the areas of
(1) horizontal transfer and acquisition of antibiotic resistance in the clinic and environment;
(2) microbiome and its role in vaso-occlusive crisis in sickle cell disease; and
(3) engineering recombinant enzymes and systems for bioprocessing.