Mauritius: Devina Lobine, the researcher who wants to cure Alzheimer’s

Devina Lobine is a Mauritian researcher. As a specialist in neuropharmacology, she focuses her research on the study of the properties of medicinal plants that can cure Alzheimer’s disease. In 2020, she won the l’Oréal/UNESCO Award for her research and academic excellence.

At 33 years old, Devina Lobine is a researcher who believes in the benefits of plants. She stands out by her research on medicinal plants and the use of their properties in the treatment of Alzheimer’s, a disease that remains incurable today.

After studying agricultural biotechnology at the University of Mauritius from 2007 to 2010, she obtained a scholarship and conducted doctoral research with several foreign universities, including the University of Pretoria in South Africa and the University of Durham in England. In 2017, she defended her PhD on natural products and the biological properties of Aloe vera species.

Passionate about research and struggling to find a job, in 2018 she enrolled in a post-doctoral program at the University of Mauritius in partnership with the research company Axonova Ltd and the University of Durham. Her research focuses on the identification, characterisation and validation of inhibitors from traditionally used medicinal plants, in other words therapeutic agents, which can treat Alzheimer’s disease by increasing memory performance. The results of this ongoing work should lead to the design of phytomedicines, made from molecules of several plants, to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

In 2020, she was awarded the L’Oréal / UNESCO Prize for Women and Science in the « Young Talents » category for her postdoctoral research.

In parallel, she is carrying out research with the Mauritius Center and the Innovation Council for the fight against Covid 19 by making computer simulations to identify molecules of medicinal plants in Africa that can be used to inhibit the proteins of Covid 19 virus. 

Due to her commitment to medical research, Devina Lobine has been Mauritius Ambassador to the Next Einstein Forum since 2019, an initiative that aims to promote science in Africa.