| Collins Mosita Moringa |
Mr. Collins Misita Morang’a is a Bioinformatics Scientist at WACCBIP. He was a PhD research fellow at WACCBIP, funded by the Wellcome Trust DELTAS Programme at the University of Ghana. He finished his studies in Biochemistry from Egerton University and obtained his Master of Science Degree in Molecular Biology from Maseno University in Kenya. In his Ph.D., he is interested in using artificial intelligence approaches to classify the malaria infections, as well as deconvolution of transcriptomics and genomics data from asymptomatic and clinical malaria individuals. The secondary focus of his Ph.D. research is to identify regulatory mechanisms that dampen the activation of the Type I interferon pathway by sensing Plasmodium DNA during malaria infections. The regulation checkpoints can provide opportunities for therapeutic interventions against clinical malaria. |
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| Biigba Bright |
Biigba Bright is my name. PhD Biodata analytics and computational Genomics. My research area is on Biogeographical ancestry, GWAS and Polygenic Risk scores. My MPhil work focused comparative Genomics of Helicobacter pylori. First degrees were in B.Sc Agric economics and Bachelor of Education. I have worked with USAID for 2 years as consultant and also taught as a teacher before. |
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| Winfred Gatua |
Winfred Gatua is a Wellcome Trust Molecular Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology Ph.D. fellow at the University of Bristol where she is currently working on integrating evidence from Mendelian Randomization and Randomised Controlled trials for drug discovery for human complex diseases. She holds a BSc in Biomedical Science and Technology from Laikipia University, a Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in Health Research Methods from Pwani University, and KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, Kenya, and MSc Bioinformatics fellow, Pwani university. During her PGD Studentship, she investigated the transmission of Rhinovirus in coastal Kenya using partial and full-length genome analysis. For her master’s research project, she worked on the determination of recombination and recombination hotspots in published mitochondrial genomes of vertebrates and insects. Her research interests are in molecular epidemiology, genetics, drug discovery, and data mining. |
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| Alfred Ssekagiri |
Alfred is a Bioinformatics PhD student at Makerere University, working on in-silico based identification of novel HIV-1 drug resistant mutations. He doubles as a bioinformatics associate at Uganda Virus Research Institute. He holds a Master of science in Bioinformatics from University of Glasgow, Master of science in mathematical science from African institute of mathematical science and a Bachelor of science with Education from Makerere University. |
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| Toheeb Balogun |
Balogun Toheeb is a first-class graduate of Biochemistry from Adekunle Ajasin University, Nigeria. He has published 20 research papers in top scholarly journals and presented them at numerous scientific conferences. Also, he is a certified reviewer of reputable international journals with strong research experience in bioinformatics and molecular biology. He was a recipient of the travel fellowship and the best oral presenter at the Nigerian Bioinformatics and Genomics Network 2nd Annual Conference. Also, he was selected for the prestigious Lower Saxony International Summer Academy organized by Hannover Biomedical Research School, Germany. Currently, he is the director of research and development at the Institute of Bioinformatics and Molecular Therapeutics, Osun State, Nigeria. |
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| Ovokeraye Oduaran |
Ovokeraye Oduaran is a postdoctoral researcher with a focus in metagenomics and microbial genomics. She received her PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, South Africa, her MS from the George Washington University in Washington, DC and her BS from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. Voke is a past recipient of Fogarty’s Global Health Equity Fellowship and serves as the chair of H3Africa’s Microbiome Task Force. She is currently based at the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience at Wits University. |
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| Ayomide Mary |
Ayomide is currently a PhD candidate at the John Innes Institute (UK) for the PhD Rotation Program in Plant and Microbial Science. She completed her Master's in Plant Science and Biotechnology at the University of Leeds, UK and served as a research assistant in the same laboratory. She has a solid background in microbiology. Her research interests include understanding how symbiotic and mutualistic microbial interaction of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) and Rhizobia with plants impact intercellular communication and plant growth. Ayomide is passionate about contributing her knowledge and skills to improving bioscience education and innovations in plant science for improved food security in Africa. |
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| Dominic S. Y. Amuzu |
Dominic S. Y. Amuzu is currently a Bioinformatician at West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Medical Research Unit, The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the field of Human Genetics and Malaria. He obtained a Master of Philosophy in Biochemistry from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumas with research focus on pharmacogenomics of Cytochrome P450 Enzyme in the Ghanaian Population. Subsequently he pursued a PhD in Biochemistry (Human Genetics) funded by the Wellcome Trust DELTAS PhD Fellowship at WACCBIP, University of Ghana with Research component at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics (WHG), University of Oxford, UK. His PhD focused on the molecular characterization of GYPB gene deletions and their function effect on Plasmodium falciparum invasion of erythrocytes and growth of the parasite. With respect to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dominic contributes to genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Ghana through viral sequencing and analysis as a Bioinformatician at West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens where analysis and research outcomes are communicated through publications, weekly or monthly updates and national policy briefs on COVID-19 for Ghana. He is also part of Africa CDC Genomic Surveillance Team for the tracking and monitoring of SARS-CoV-2. Dominic S. Y. Amuzu's current post doctoral research is focused on Human Genetics and the Epidemiology of Plasmodium falciparum across malaria endemic regions in Africa. The main goal is to develop a comprehensive profile of host receptor diversity across a gradient of malaria transmission in sub-Saharan Africa to facilitate the understanding of the host-pathogen interaction in malaria infection as well as the biology of the parasite for therapeutic strategies again the parasite. |
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| Ademola Ayeinuro |
He completed his MPhil in Pathology at the University of Cambridge and currently working as a research assistant in the same laboratory. Ademola’s research interests include epithelial homeostasis and the cervical transformation zone. During his MPhil, Ademola investigated the cellular origin of cervical precancer and explored the reasons for disease recurrence in different groups of women. He discovered that the globally adopted treatment for cervical precancer does not necessarily prevent a recurrent or incident disease, a topic that he is further exploring for his PhD. As a team lead at Research4Knowledge, Ademola is very keen to contribute his knowledge and skills in improving bioscience education in Africa. He seeks to be a leading researcher in cancer biology and immunology, thereby creating innovations in cancer biology for improved diagnosis in Africa. |
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| Rispah Nyambura |
Rispah Nyambura Ng'ang'a is an EDESIA Wellcome Trust PhD student based at the Quadram Institute and John Innes Centre, Norwich. She holds a Master's degree in Genetics and Bachelor's degree in Biology - both attained at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. Her current research focuses on enhancing the nutritional value of neglected and underutilized legumes to help improve food security in the Global South. |
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| Segun AFOLARANMI |
Segun attended medical school at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and went on to complete intern year of clinical practice. He developed keen interest in science and cancer research towards the end of medical school, as he experienced the grossly limited treatment options for cancer. He then received the Clarendon scholarship for an MSc in integrated immunology at the University of Oxford. He joined the de la Roche lab at the Cancer Research UK, Cambridge Institute in January 2022 for PhD studies in Cancer Immunology, with funding from the Gates Cambridge Trust. Alongside his scientific interests, Segun is very passionate about working with others to accelerate access to cancer therapeutics in Africa. |
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| Bernice Waweru |
Bernice Waweru is currently pursuing a PhD in biological sciences in the Uauy lab at the John Innes Centre under the Norwich Research Park Doctoral Training Program (NRPDTP). Her research focuses on identifying and exploiting novel haplotypes for disease resistance in wheat. She implements bioinformatics skills to genomic sequence data to identify and utilize novel variation in the wheat genome linked to traits of interest, in this case disease resistance to rust diseases in wheat. Bernice acquired her Master of Science degree in plant breeding and technology at the University of Eldoret in Kenya. Her dissertation focussed on identifying genomic regions responsible for disease resistance to stem rust in wheat. During her masers she was awarded a Borlaug LEAP fellowship where she trained under Dr. Jim Anderson at the University of Minnesota, Dr. Sridhar Bhavani at CIMMYT and Dr. Godwin Macharia at KALRO. In 2018 she was awarded a highly competitive two-year Bioinformatics community of practise fellowship which included an eight-month residential fellowship at the then BecA-ILRI Hub, Nairobi. She previously worked as a bioinformatician at IITA and ILRI Nairobi hubs before moving on to pursue her PhD. Bernice enjoys reading and fitness and she is a wife and mother to two adorable kids. |
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