Jan. 28-30 Virtual Operations, Campus Remains Closed

Bowie State University will continue with virtual operations for all classes and office operations through Friday, January 30, 2026. The campus will be closed to all non-essential personnel, and all campus activities are canceled. All buildings except residence halls and the dining hall will be closed. Essential personnel should report on time. This is due to the extended time required to clear the extensive snow and ice accumulation on campus. University crews are making every effort to resume campus operations, as a safe return to in-person learning and work remains our top priority. Only essential personnel and residential students are permitted access to the campus through Jan. 30. For more information, please visit BowieState.edu/weather. 

BowieState.edu/weather

Eric Bonsu

Eric Bonsu

Eric O Bonsu Assoc Prof Dept of Natural Sciences

Phone 301-860-3348 ebonsu@bowiestate.edu

Main Campus Science Center, Room 207

Education

2005

Ph.D. Pharmacy/ Medicinal Chemistry

Advisor: Prof.  V. Nair

Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences

College of Pharmacy, University of Georgia

Athens GA 30602

2002

Ph.D. Candidate (Organic Chemistry)

GAANN Fellow (Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need)

Advisor: Prof. V. Nair

Dept. of Chemistry, University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA 52242

1998

B.S. Chemistry

Dept. of Chemistry, Prairie View A&M University

Prairie View, TX  77446

Courses

General Chemistry I (CHEM 107) and Organic Chemistry II (CHEM 201)

Research Interests

Eric’s research is in modern synthetic chemistry, the usage of modern state-of-the art analytical instrumentation for full physio-chemical characterization of the properties of new and existing chemical substances, as well as the application of computational, mechanistic, structure - activity relationships to drug design, development and synthesis.

His work in intelligent drug design, synthesis, and evaluation of new and structurally - modified agents is advancing research leading to the discovery of new antiviral, anticancer, and antimalaria drugs which will stop/ reverse cancer or eradicate the etiological agents of malaria and viral diseases. Current work includes

  • C -2, C- 6, and C-8 functionalized ribofuranosyl purine nucleosides as targets against inhibition of Inosine Monophosphate Dehydrogenase (IMPDH) leading to new and improved antiviral, anticancer, antibacterial and immunosuppressive drugs
  • Nucleoside analogue inhibitors against Plasmodium falciprum Thymidylate kinase (PfTMPK) leading to new and improved antimalaria drugs.
  • Synthesis of analogues of Toyocamycin as anticancer chemotherapeutic agents
  • Synthesis of modified indolinones as c-di-AMP synthase inhibitors for antibacterial and anti-biofilm activities

Eric works on other projects that involve the evaluation of the effects of select chemicals on certain secondary metabolites of food crops (Metabolomics) as well as bench-top and pilot-scale microbial fermentation and Petroleum Bio-remediation.

Professional Memberships

American Chemical Society (ACS)

Patents & Publications

Agents that inhibit bacterial biofilm formation. Nira Rabin, Yue Zheng, Clement Opoku-Temeng, Yixuan Du, Eric Bonsu and Herman O. Sintim* Future Med. Chem. 2015, 7: 647-671

Biofilm formation mechanisms and targets for developing anti-biofilm agents. Nira Rabin, Yue Zheng, Clement Opoku-Temeng, Yixuan Du, Eric Bonsu and Herman O. Sintim* Future Med. Chem. 2015, 7: 493-512

Zhang, X. Ma, E. Bonsu, and V. Nair, Base-functionalized carbocyclic nucleosides: design, synthesis, and mechanism of antiviral activity. Nucleosides, Nucleotides & Nucleic Acids, 2009, 28 (5), 408-23.

Nair, V.; Uchil, V.; Ma, X.; Zhu, Q.; Zhang, F.; Bonsu, E. Ribonucleosides Bearing Michael Acceptors: Synthesis, Molecular Docking, Enzyme Inhibition Data and Antiviral Activity, Nucleic Acids Symposium Series, 2008, No. 52 625 – 626.

Nair, V.; Bonsu, E., Gupta, M., Story, S.  Discovery of Antiviral Agents against RNA Viruses: Correlation with Inhibitors of IMPDH, Antiviral Res. 2005, 65, A67.

Story, M. Gupta, E. Bonsu and V. Nair, Inhibitors of Inosine Monophosphate

Dehydrogenase:  Probes for Antiviral Drug Discovery, Nucleosides, Nucleotides &

Nucleic Acids, 2005, 24 (5-7), 717-720.

Nair, S. Story, M. Gupta and E. Bonsu, Antiviral Ribonucleosides: Inhibitors of Inosine

Monophosphate Dehydrogenase, Antiviral Res. 2004, 62, A72.

Story, M. Gupta, E. Bonsu and V. Nair, Inhibitors of Inosine Monophosphate

Dehydrogenase:  Probes for Antiviral Drug Discovery, 16th International Roundtable   

Conference on Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids, Minneapolis, MN, 2004.

Nair, B. Bera and E. Bonsu, Antiviral Drug Discovery: Inhibitors of Inosine

Monophosphate Dehydrogenase, Georgia Life Sciences Summit 2003, Atlanta, Georgia, 2003.