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News & Sports INTERVIEW WITH DR MUSTAPHA BITTAYE By Pa Modou Faal that I was exposed to the area of medical research and I fell in love with it because it gives me the opportunity to be able to do what I love doing best which is giving back to my community through my work. By the time I moved into the UK, I already had experience working in the lab, but I did not know how to apply that experience into something beneficial to society.
One of the core scientists involved in the development of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. Mojatu: Who is Dr Mustapha Bittaye? Dr Bittaye: I am from The Gambia which is arguably the smallest country in Africa. I moved to the UK in 2009 to study Biomedical Science at the University of Westminster and later proceeded to Aberdeen University for a PhD in Microbial Proteomics. After completion, I joined The Jenner Institute to support in the clinical development of vaccines against emerging and outbreak viral pathogens and so far I have been involved in the development of the current Oxford/AstraZeneca Vaccine. Mojatu: How did your journey in Medical Research start? Dr Bittaye: When I graduated from high school in The Gambia, I had the opportunity to work at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Unit, a British research institute based in The Gambia, as a Research Assistant and later rose through the ranks as Senior Research Assistant supporting some of the disease control programmes including malaria, nutrition, child health and immunity. It was at the MRC
So, part of my PhD at Aberdeen University was involved in discovering biomarkers and some of their applications were to see whether they could be turned into a therapeutic product which includes a vaccine. This is how and where my interest in vaccines developed which was reinforced by that project. Upon completion, I realised that I needed to go to an institution where vaccine research is at the top of their agenda and are the best in the field hence joining The Jenner Institute which is the best in the UK for vaccine development. After joining, I was involved in the development of a vaccine against a coronavirus called Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus where I spent just over a year working on the trial and the work our team has done in that trial lucky became the blueprint that was needed for us to deliver the currently licensed Oxford/ Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine. Mojatu: Being part of a winning team tasked with the development of the COVID-19 vaccine would have been a humbling experience, how do you feel? Dr Bittaye: Well it is a proud moment for me, and the entire team involved in this breakthrough but also a proud moment for the volunteers that participated in
the trial to make it possible and also a proud moment for British Science in general. As scientists, this is what we are all dreaming for that is being able to take our work from the benches in the lab into a product that could be beneficial to the world at large and what we have been developing is not a vaccine that can be used only in the UK but one that is currently being used worldwide including my own country, The Gambia. For me, what I always wanted was being able to do science anywhere in the world that can benefit the people back home in my country and the world at large and being able to achieve that is definitely a proud moment for me and the team because this do not come very often in this field. One of the motivating factors that kept me going was, in hindsight, I was very convinced that the vaccine was going to be the gamechanger in the fight against COVID-19 in the sense that it is not only for use in developed countries but also suitable for developing countries and my family will benefit from it as well. Mojatu: AstraZeneca is very much in the news lately, what would you tell the layman about this groundbreaking scientific feat? Dr Bittaye: If you consider what we have done in the scientific community, it is like the modern day equivalence of landing human on the moon because in the history of vaccine development, we have never developed a vaccine within a year and we have been able to achieve that as a scientific community and as a human race thanks to the massive collaboration and support from the society in general. For me, people should take this as a human triumph knowing that by coming together and applying our human ingenuity,
