la1Lawrence Asamoah Adutwum

Address:          Room 18, School of Pharmacy, University of Ghana Legon         

Email:              ladutwum@ug.edu.gh ; adutwum@ualberta.ca

ORCID:          https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6912-1001 

Scopus ID:      https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=34871298900 

PubMed:         https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Adutwum%20LA 

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lawrence-Adutwum 

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-7P2n6MAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao 

Current Research

A. Computer Aided Drug Discovery

Discovery of new drugs is an expensive endeavor. However, drugs already in use can be adapted for other indications a process termed Drug repurposing or drug repositioning. These existing agents can also serve as lead compounds for the discovery of new agents with improved medicines. The research in this arena focusses on two main themes

  1. Repurposing of Anti-Infectives for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)
  2. Insilco improvements in Anti-Infectives via Machine Learning and Molecular Docking Studies.

B. Application of Machine Learning/Chemometrics for drug and food quality monitoring

This involves the application of modern analytical separation, (HPLC and GC) and spectroscopic techniques (e.g., UV/VIS, IR and NIR) together with chemometrics towards quality control and standardization of herbal products and food materials. 

  1. Development of simple tools for quality assessment of honey
  2. Determination of the presence of Azo dyes (e.g., Sudan Dyes) in foods

C. Machine Learning Guided Material Discovery for Energy Application

The information age presents us with large amount of data which can easily overwhelm our understanding and ability to convert them into useful information. The focus here is to apply machine learning to learn from these kinds of data to harness the information from big data for two foci are.

  1. Improving efficiency of organic photovoltaics
  2. Machine Learning Guided Discovery of Materials with specific applications

D. Environmental monitoring of Pharmaceuticals (APIs)

Detection of pharmaceuticals in the environment is not new. Due to the risk of development of resistance, the focus has been largely on antibiotics in the environment. Our themes here include development and applications of separation methods (HPLC-MS, GC-MS) in the detection and quantification of APIs in soil samples in sites of interests.

Education

2012 – 2017    Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

2007 – 2009    Master of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MSc), Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki City, Japan

2001 – 2005    Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm), Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

Research Experience

2020 - 2023     Research Assistant, Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton Canada

2017 - 2019     Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton Canada

Teaching Experience

2019                Senior Lecturer, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, University of Ghana, Accra

2018 - 2019     Lecturer, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, University of Ghana, Accra

2012 – 2015    Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

2010 – 2012    Assistant Lecturer, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, University of Ghana, Accra

2005 – 2006    Teaching Assistant, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

 

Administrative Experience

July 2022         Head, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, University of Ghana

May 2019        Acting Head, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, University of Ghana

May 2019        Laboratory Coordinator, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, University of Ghana

July 2012         Acting Head, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, University of Ghana

Publications

  1. Boateng A. A., Sumaila S., Lartey M., Brobbey O. M., Opuni K. F. M., Adutwum L. A. (2022).  Evaluation of chemometric classification and regression models for the detection of syrup adulteration in honey, LWT, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2022.113498
  2. Mensah N. M., Brobbey A. A., Addotey J. N., Ayensu I., Asare-Nkansah S., Opuni K. F. M., Adutwum L. A. (2021). Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy and Chemometric Strategy Enable the Classification and Detection of Expired Antimalarial Herbal Medicinal Product in Ghana, Int. J. Anal. Chem. 2021, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/5592217
  3. Adutwum L. A., Kwao K. J. & Harynuk J. J. (2021). Unique ion filter—A data reduction tool for chemometric analysis of raw comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry data, J Sep Sci., 44(14):2773-2784 https://doi.org/10.1002/jssc.202001127
  4. Gzyl A., Oliynyk, A. O., Adutwum L. A., Mar A. (2019). Solving the Coloring Problem in Half-Heusler Structures: Machine-Learning Predictions and Experimental Validation, Inorg. Chem. 58, 14, 9280–9289.https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.9b00987
  5. Cao B., Adutwum L. A., Oliynyk, A. O., Luber E. J., Olsen B. C., Mar A., Buriak J. M. (2018). How to Optimize Materials and Devices via Design of Experiments and Machine Learning: Demonstration Using Organic Photovoltaics, ACS Nano, 12(8), 7434-7444. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.8b04726
  6. Adutwum L. A., Abel J. R., Harynuk J. J. (2017). Total Ion Spectra versus Segmented Total Ion Spectra as Preprocessing Tools for Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry Data. J. Forensic Sci., 63(4), 1059-1068. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/15564029.13657/full
  7. Oliynyk A. O., Adutwum L. A., Rudyk B., Pisavadia H., Lotfi S., Hlukhyy V, Harynuk J. J., Mar A., Brgoch J. (2017). Disentangling Structural Confusion through Machine Learning: Structure Prediction and Polymorphism of Equiatomic Ternary Phases ABC. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 139(49), 17870-17881. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/jacs.7b08460
  8. Adutwum L. A., A. de la Mata P., Bean H., Hill J., Harynuk J. J. (2017). Estimation of start and stop numbers for cluster resolution feature selection algorithm; an empirical approach using null distribution analysis of fisher ratios. Anal. Bioanal. Chem., 409(28), 6699-6708.
     http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0628-8
  9. Lopatka M., Sampat A. A., Jonkers S., Adutwum L. A., Mol H. G. J., der Weg G., Harynuk J. J., Shoenmakers P. J., van Asten A., Sjerps M. J., Vivo-Truyols G. (2017). Local Ion Signature (LIS) for comparison of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography applied to fire debris analysis. Forensic Chem. 3, 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.forc.2016.10.003
  10. Oliynyk A. O., Adutwum L. A., Harynuk J. J., Mar A. (2016). Classifying crystal structures of binary compounds AB through cluster resolution feature selection and support vector machine analysis. Chem. Mater., 28(18), 6672-6681. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b02905
  11. Adutwum L. A., Harynuk J. J. (2014). Unique ion filter; a strategy for GC-MS data processing prior to chemometric analysis. Anal. Chem., 86(15), 7726-7733. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ac501660a
  12. Adutwum L. A., Kishikawa N., Ohyama, K., Harada S., Nakashima K., Kuroda N. (2010). Peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence detection for the highly sensitive determination of fluorescence labeled chlorpheniramine with Suzuki coupling reaction. Anal. Bioanal. Chem., 398(2), 823-829. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00216-010-3932-0
  13. Ohyama K., Kishikawa N., Matayoshi K., Adutwum L. A., Wada M., Nakashima K., Kuroda N. (2009). Sensitive determination of 1- and 2-naphthol in human plasma by HPLC-fluorescence detection with 4-(4,5-diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl) benzoyl chloride as a labeling reagent. J. Sep. Sci., 32, 2218-2222. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jssc.200900056

Conferences and Presentations

Oral Presentation

Cyril Tetteh, Bernice Ampomah, Kwabena F.M. Opuni, Mahmood B. Oppong, Michael Lartey, Paul Owusu Donkor, Lawrence A. Adutwum, Re-purposing of anti-infectives for the management of onchocerciasis using machine learning and protein docking studies
November 2022, Annual Researh Meeting, Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research, Accra
Lawrence A. Adutwum, Joanna K. Kwao, James J. Harynuk, Unique ion filter—A data reduction tool for chemometric analysis of raw comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry data
2019 Restoring Hope Science Conference on Precision Medicine and Allied Topics, University of Ghana, Accra
Athur Mar, Vidyanshu Mishra, Lawrence A. Adutwum, Anton O. Oliynyk, Discovery of ternary noncentrosymmetric compounds:  A machine-learning approach with experimental proof.
June 2019, 102st Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition, Montreal, Quebec.
Eric Luber, Bing Cao, Lawrence A. Adutwum, Anton O. Oliynyk, Brian C. Olsen, Arthur Mar, Jullian M. Buriak
Effectively Exploring Parameter Space: Design of Experiments and Machine Learning-assisted Organic Solar Cell Efficiency Optimization 
March 2019 - American Physical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.
Bing Cao, Anton O. Oliynyk, Lawrence A. Adutwum, Eric Luber, Arthur Mar, Jullian M. Buriak
Optimization of organic solar cells through experimental design and machine learning 
March 2018 - American Chemical Society, Washington, DC.
Lawrence A. Adutwum, James J. Harynuk 
Strain level identification of Lactobacillus reutrei: A chemometric approach using MALDI-TOF-MS data of bacterial cell lysate 
May 2018 - 101st Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition, Edmonton, Alberta.
Jillian M. Buriak, Bing Cao, Lawrence A. Adutwum, Brian Olsen, Anton Oliynyk, Erik Luber, Tate Hauger, Arthur Mar
Reconsideration of Organic Photovoltaics: Addressing Key Bottlenecks with Simple Predictive Models and Machine Learning Approaches
May 2018 - 101st Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition, Edmonton, Alberta.
Lawrence A. Adutwum, Anton Oliynyk, Jan-Hendrik Pohls, Yuqiao Zhou, Arthur Mar 
Discovery of Noncentrosymmetric Ternary Compounds from Elemental Composition: A Machine-Learning Approach 
May 2018 - 101st Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition, Edmonton, Alberta.
Bing Cao, Lawrence A. Adutwum, Brian Olsen, Anton Oliynyk, Erik Luber,Tate Hauger, Arthur Mar, Jillian M. Buriak
Design of Experiments and Machine Learning-assisted Organic Solar Cell Efficiency Optimization
May 2018 - 101st Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition, Edmonton, Alberta.
Anton Oliynyk, Lawrence A. Adutwum, Arthur Mar 
How large is an atom?
May 2018 - 101st Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition, Edmonton, Alberta.
Alexander S. Gzyl, Lawrence A. Adutwum, Anton Oliynyk, Arthur Mar Classification of Half-Heusler Compounds through Machine-Learning Approaches
May 2018 - 101st Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition, Edmonton, Alberta.
Lawrence A. Adutwum, James J. Harynuk 
Data Feature Selection with ranked variables, where do we start? 
May 2017-41th ISCC & 14th GC×GC Symposium, Fort Worth, TX.
Lawrence A. Adutwum, James J. Harynuk 
Data Pre-processing of raw GC×GC-TOFMS data for chemometric analysis
May 2016-40th ISCC & 13th GC×GC Symposium, Riva del Garda, Italy.
James J. Harynuk, Lawrence A. Adutwum, A. Paulina de La Mata
Data Reduction tool for GC×GC-TOFMS
March 2016-Pittcon 2016, Atlanta, GA.
James J. Harynuk, Keisean Stevenson, Seo Lin Nam, Lawrence A. Adutwum 
Chemometric Treatment of GC-VUV Data: Samples in a New light 
March 2016-Pittcon 2016, Atlanta, GA.
Lawrence A. Adutwum, James J. Harynuk 
Data Reduction Tool for GC×GC-MS: Faster and Improved Chemometric Classification of Green Tea by Origin 
May 2015-12th GC×GC and 39th ISCC, Fort Worth, TX.
Heather D. Bean, Jane E. Hill, Jean-Marie D. Dimandja, Lawrence A. Adutwum, Aidee P. de la Mata, James J. Harynuk 
GC×GC-TOFMS for the Identification of Volatile Biomarkers of Chronic Bacterial Lung Infections
May 2015-12th GC×GC and 39th ISCC, Fort Worth, TX. 
James J. Harynuk, Lawrence A. Adutwum, Paulina A. de la Mata, Ahmad Mani-Varnosfaderani
Comparison of Feature Selection Methods for Chemometric Analysis
March 2015-Pittcon 2015, New Orleans, LA.
James J. Harynuk, Lawrence A. Adutwum 
Automated, objective data reduction strategies for the chemometric treatment of raw GC×GC-TOFMS data
January 2015-6th Multidimensional Chromatography Workshop, Toronto, ON.
Heather D. Bean, Jane E. Hill, Jean-Marie D. Dimandja, Stephen E. Reichenbach, Lawrence A. Adutwum, Aidee P. de la Mata, James J. Harynuk 
Discovering volatile biomarkers of P. aeruginosa adaptation during chronic lung infections using GC×GC-TOFMS and chemometrics.
May 2014-ISCC and 11th GC×GC Symposium, Riva del Garda, Italy.
James J. Harynuk, Xiao Qin Lee, Lawrence A. Adutwum, Mark P. L. Sandercock
Comparison of Simulated and Casework Arson Debris for the Training of Chemometric Models March 2014-Pittcon 2014, Chicago IL, USA.
Lawrence A. Adutwum, James J. Harynuk
Unique Ion Filter: A Strategy for GC-MS Data Processing Prior to Chemometric Analysis 
March 2014 Pittcon 2014, Chicago IL, USA.
Lawrence A. Adutwum, Naoya Kishikawa, Naotaka Kuroda 
Fluorescence detection of aryl halides using Suzuki coupling Reaction
2009-Chromatography Symposium of The Society for Chromatographic Sciences, Japan.
Poster presentation
James J. Harynuk, Paulina A. de la Mata, Chaminda S. Weeraddana, Maya L. Evendon, Lawrence A. Adutwum 
Profiling of Volatile Organic Compounds from Canola by GC×GC-TOFMS
May 2016-40th ISCC & 13th GC×GC Symposium, Riva del Garda, Italy.
Lawrence A. Adutwum, James J. Harynuk 
Data Segmented Total Ion Spectra (STIS): a pre-processing step for GC-MS data for chemometric analysis of arson data
May 2016-40th ISCC & 13th GC×GC Symposium, Riva del Garda, Italy.
James J. Harynuk, Lawrence A. Adutwum 
Intelligent reduction of variables to enable rapid and improved chemometric analysis of GC-MS data 
May 2014-ISCC and 11th GC×GC Symposium, Riva del Garda, Italy
Lawrence A. Adutwum, Naoya Kishikawa, Naotaka Kuroda 
Sensitive Determination of 1- and 2-Naphthol in Human Plasma by HPLC-fluorescence Detection with DIB-Cl as a Labeling reagent 
2009-The Second Asian Symposium on Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan. 
Committee Membership
    Member, Committee to Develop Teaching and Learning Policy, University of Ghana.
    Member, Department Teaching Assessment Committee (DTAC), Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy.
    Member, Research and Grant Committee, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, June 2018 – to date.
    Member, Postgraduate and Undergraduate curriculum development committee, School of Pharmacy, May 2018.
    Member, Postgraduate and Undergraduate curriculum development committee, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, May 2018.
    Member, Academic Board, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, September 2018 to date.
    Member, Faculty Board, University of Ghana School of Pharmacy, University of Ghana, Legon. April 2012 - August 2012.
    Member, Academic Board, University of Ghana, Legon, April 2012 - August 2012.
    Member, Academic Board, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, April 2012 - August 2012.
    Member, Committee to Determine the Criteria for Assessing Students Project Work, University of Ghana School of Pharmacy, University of Ghana, Legon. June 2019
Professional Membership
i.    Member, Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH), January 2007 to date.
iii.    Member, American Chemical Society, 2021