James Tuju is a vaccine and immunology scientist with expertise spanning antigen discovery, protein engineering, immunological assay development, mRNA-LNP vaccine manufacturing and analytics, and preclinical evaluation of vaccine candidates. He has worked across malaria and emerging infectious diseases, with particular expertise in recombinant protein production, antibody characterization and the development of immunological platforms. At KWTRP, James leads the African Visiting Scholar Program in Immunogen Design, an initiative focused on building African capacity in advanced immunogen design and enabling African scientists to contribute more directly to the development of next-generation vaccines. His broader vision is to strengthen African-led capability across the vaccine development pipeline-from immunogen design and mRNA vaccine technologies to preclinical evaluation and translation