Dr. Ejaife Agbani, B.Pharm, MSc, PhD.

Biography

Dr Ejaife Agbani earned his Bachelor of Pharmacy degree (with Distinction) from Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria and qualified as a pharmacist. Later, he earned a Master’s in clinical pharmacy degree (with Distinction) from University College London, England. He then studied peroxynitrite chemistry and its cellular actions in pulmonary hypertension at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland where he obtained his PhD in 2010. After a post-doctoral research investigating the role of nuclear invaginations and endo-lysosomal channels in calcium signalling at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, Dr Agbani joined the lab of Prof. Alastair Poole, at the University of Bristol, England. It was at Bristol that Ejaife carved out a distinct area of thrombosis (formation of blood clots) and haemostasis (arrest of bleeding) research with his discoveries through 4D advanced imaging. Dr Agbani now pioneers a novel approach to specifically target procoagulant membrane dynamics, to control platelet-driven thrombosis without blocking essential pro-haemostatic platelet secretions. This approach opens the way for the development of a new class of antiplatelet antithrombotics namely, antiprocoagulant antithrombotics, mechanistically distinct from aspirin and P₂Y₁₂ blockers such as clopidogrel, prasugrel, and ticagrelor, and devoid of the bleeding side-effect of these drugs.

Dr Agbani is one of the leading authors in his field. His publications (2015-2023), in the Journal of Clinical Investigation-Insight, Blood, Nature Communications, Blood Advances, Communications Medicine,  Cells, Scientific Reports, Haematologica, Circulation, JBC, ATVB and Platelets, have spurred a shift in thrombosis research. Dr Agbani is a member of the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine and the Libin Cardiovascular Institute.  Dr Agbani’s work is centred on platelet biology, and thrombosis and haemostasis cell biology. In collaboration with clinicians at the Foothills Medical Centre, Dr Agbani’s work seeks to understand platelets’ role in post-operative thrombo-haemorrhagic complications, drug and cancer-associated thrombosis, and prothrombo-inflammatory disease states. His haematological innovation couples machine learning with the systematic quantification of platelet procoagulant membrane dynamics and is currently under test to predict bleeding or clotting diathesis. His research goal is to provide through platelet biology, critical insights into thrombosis mechanisms and the haemostatic response, and to leverage this knowledge for precision medicine.