Bio


Following the completion of her PhD at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in Prof Steve Ward’s lab, Lynette Isabella Oyier joined the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) in 2006 as a post-doctoral researcher. She worked under Profs. David Conway (LSHTM) and Kevin Marsh, to study natural selection in Plasmodium falciparum merozoite antigens at the MRC, The Gambia and KWTRP. She later received a re-entry grant from the Malaria Capacity Development Consortium (MCDC), to work on the temporal genetic variation in merozoite antigens. In addition, she has supervised a Wellcome Trust funded MSc fellow in collaboration with Prof Colin Sutherland (LSHTM) to examine the temporal genetic variation in known drug resistance markers. She was appointed Visiting Lecturer to the Centre for Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (CEBIB), University of Nairobi, in 2011. There, she developed a molecular biology lab, taught on the molecular biology and advanced molecular genetics MSc courses and supervised MSc students. She received a MCDC initiative award to examine the genetic diversity of P. falciparum erythrocyte receptors and conducted part of the project at CEBIB. While at CEBIB, using funding from the MCDC, she established a career development group to improve the learning environment through mentoring, postgraduate supervision and personal development planning activities. In 2015, she received funding from the Wellcome Trust, the International Intermediate Fellowship award for the project, A novel strategy for understanding the functional impact of variation in Plasmodium falciparum merozoite vaccine candidates, in collaboration with Prof Julian Rayner, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. In 2016 Faith began to split her time between Heidelberg University in Germany and KEMRI-Wellcome, and in 2021 took up a full-time role in Imperial College London, where she is now co-Director of the Institute of Immunology. She retains strong links with KEMRI-Wellcome and continues to run a group and supervise students

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Current Work


Her interests include vaccine development, with an emphasis on malaria. Her research groups are based at the KEMRI-Wellcome Training Programme in Kilifi, Kenya and at the Heidelberg University Hospital in Heidelberg, Germany. She is passionate about capacity building and the training of African scientists to deliver the interventions needed on the continent.

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Recent publications


A retrospective analysis of P. falciparum drug resistance markers detects an early (2016/17) high prevalence of the k13 C469Y mutation in asymptomatic infections in Northern Uganda.
Ogwang, R., Osoti, V., Wamae, K., Ndwiga, L., Muteru, K., Ningwa, A., Tuju, J., Kinyanjui, S., Osier, F., Marsh, K., Bejon, P., Idro, R., Ochola-Oyier, L. I.
Antimicrob Agents Chemother, (2024). :e0157623

Full-length MSP1 is a major target of protective immunity after controlled human malaria infection.
Rosenkranz, M., Nkumama, I. N., Ogwang, R., Kraker, S., Blickling, M., Mwai, K., Odera, D., Tuju, J., Fürle, K., Frank, R., Chepsat, E., Kapulu, M. C., Study Team, C. S., Osier, F. H.
Life Sci Alliance, (2024). 7:

Breadth of Fc-mediated effector function correlates with clinical immunity following human malaria challenge.
Nkumama, I. N., Ogwang, R., Odera, D., Musasia, F., Mwai, K., Nyamako, L., Murungi, L., Tuju, J., Fürle, K., Rosenkranz, M., Kimathi, R., Njuguna, P., Hamaluba, M., Kapulu, M. C., Frank, R., Osier, F. H. A.
Immunity, (2024). 57:1215-1224

Bi-isotype immunoglobulins enhance antibody-mediated neutrophil activity against Plasmodium falciparum parasites.
Ogwang, R., Murugu, L., Nkumama, I. N., Nyamako, L., Kai, O., Mwai, K., Murungi, L., Idro, R., Bejon, P., Tuju, J., Kinyanjui, S. M., Osier, F. H. A.
Front Immunol, (2024). 15:1360220

Antibody-Dependent Respiratory Burst against Plasmodium falciparum Merozoites in Individuals Living in an Area with Declining Malaria Transmission.
Mutemi, D. D., Tuju, J., Ogwang, R., Nyamako, L., Wambui, K. M., Cruz, I. R., Villner, P., Yman, V., Kinyanjui, S. M., Rooth, I., Ngasala, B., Färnert, A., Osier, F. H. A.
Vaccines (Basel), (2024). 12: