The Immunology in Africa Podcast

Dr. Oghenebrume Wariri is a Clinical Research Fellow in Vaccines and Immunity at the MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM. His research focuses on vaccine epidemiology, particularly examining the performance of country-level immunization systems and investigating how broader demand- and supply-side factors influence the delivery and uptake of routine childhood vaccination in West Africa. Dr. Wariri receiv...

Graduate Student Series (GSS) 1.0 (Episode 6 of 6) Kumba Seddu started her PhD journey at Johns Hopkins University where she investigated male and female immune differences to viral vaccines and infections. Her research added to the growing evidence that vaccinated females have greater antibody responses than males. This increased vaccine-induced antibody response in females is due to hormonal (es...

Graduate Student Series (GSS) 1.0 (Ep. 5 of 6) Ubong Ekperikpe is a Ph. D. candidate in the Experimental Therapeutics and Pharmacology program at the University of Mississippi Medical Center where he studies obesity and kidney diseases. He trained as a Pharmacist at the University of Jos, before earning a master's degree in Pharmacology at the University of Benin, both in Nigeria. He has also serv...

Graduate Student Series (GSS) 1.0 (Ep. 4 of 6) Tatenda Murangi completed his bachelor's degree in Biology, majoring in Tropical Disease Biology, at the Chinhoyi University of Technology, Zimbabwe. He is currently a PhD Candidate in Clinical Science and Immunology at the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa, where he studies alpha-gal allergy. His PhD work, which builds on his MSc resear...

Graduate Student Series (GSS) 1.0 (Ep. 3 of 6) Marah Grace Chibwana holds a medical degree (MBBS) from the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, and an MSc in Integrated Immunology from the University of Oxford. For her PhD, she was recently awarded the Rhodes Scholarship to read for a DPhil in Molecular and Cellular Medicine at the University of Oxford. Building on her MSc research, her PhD will...

Graduate Student Series (GSS) 1.0 (Ep. 2 of 6).  Doudou Georges Massar Niang grew up aspiring to be a professional basketball player — but he's now enamored with the field of immunology. With a doctor of Pharmacy and two Masters degrees from Cheikh Anta Diop University, Doudou's background spans hematology, cancer immunology and genetics. He has spent the last four years of his PhD exploring the r...

Graduate Student Series (GSS) 1.0 (Ep. 1 of 6). Richard Adeleke (DVM) trained as a veterinarian at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where he first took an interest in immunology and vaccine development. He is currently a Ph. D. student in Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Cornell University, USA, and works in Professor Hector Aguilar-Carreno's Lab. His research centres around vaccine dev...

Abena Amoah (PhD) is the lead for the HypoVax Global Knowledge Hub based at Leiden University Center for Infectious Diseases of the Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden University, in the Netherlands. The knowledge hub is focused on understanding variations in vaccine responses across geographical areas and populations. It aims to address the central question of why weaker responses to some va...

Chinedu Alphonsus Ugwu (PhD) holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) with distinctions from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, a Master of Science in Integrated Immunology from the University of Oxford, UK, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Veterinary Sciences from the University of Cambridge, UK. He specializes in translational immunology, vaccine, immunotherapeutic designs for pathogens, and one...

Professor Dimie Ogoina is a Professor of Medicine and Head of the Infectious Diseases Unit at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, in Bayelsa, Nigeria. He obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degree from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and has spent the last two decades researching various infectious diseases. Professor Ogoina's research interests span HIV/AIDS, healthcar...

Professor Raquel Matavele Chissumba is a Professor of Immunology and Head of the Endemic Diseases with High Sanitary Impact program - at the Instituto Nacional de Saúde, Mozambique's National Institute of Health. She researches diseases such as HIV, TB, HTLV, and COVID-19 and contributes to understanding and exploring various therapies against them. Inspired by her experiences as a young girl, her...

Dr. Fabien Prodjinotho is a senior scientist in immunology and parasitology at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, and a co-founder of the Benin Society of Immunology. Although his research career in neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) began in his home country, Benin, securing the DAAD scholarship led him to Germany, where he continued to follow his passion. His ultimate goal is to build...

Dr. Muki Shey is a Chief Research Scientist (at the Associate Professor level) and recipient of the Wellcome Intermediate Fellowship in Public Health & Tropical Medicine at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. In this episode, starting from his humble beginnings in Cameroun, he shares his journey and evolution into embracing the mucosal-associated invariant T cells (MAIT cells) as a rese...

Mohamed Ahmed (PhD) is a fellow of the Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence (SANTHE) and a recent PhD graduate of the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) associated with the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal in Durban, South Africa. In this episode, he talks about his return to tuberculosis (TB) research for his PhD after a not-so-motivating undergraduate experience.  His...

In this episode, Dr. Sonwabile Dzanibe, a research fellow at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, talks about his research and efforts to understand mother-to-child HIV exposure and develop vaccines for children exposed to HIV, who have a higher risk of contracting diseases.

In this episode, Testimony Olumade , a research fellow at the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases, takes us on his journey researching infectious diseases and expresses hope for the future of immunology research in Africa, while calling upon African immunology scientists to tell 'true and complete' stories of our research.

The Immunology in Africa Podcast (ImmunoAfrica), hosted by Wealth Okete, is dedicated to spotlighting immunology and related research in Africa / for Africa / by Africans. By amplifying the stories, struggles, and successes of Africans researching the immune system, it creates a platform for scientists, budding researchers, and members of the public to explore the immune system collectively.