The Immunology in Africa Podcast

Hosted by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wealth Okete⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, The Immunology in Africa Podcast explores narratives at the nexus of immunology & Africa. We ask professors, postdocs, PhD students, and everyone in between to tell us about their journey into immunology, the questions driving their current work, and the impact they hope to make on the continent.To support our efforts towards amplifying African stories of immunology, you can ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buy us coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠nominate a guest⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. --Thumbi Ndung’u is a faculty member at the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) in Durban, South Africa; Professor and Victor Daitz Chair in HIV/TB Research at the HIV Pathogenesis Programme, University of KwaZulu-Natal; Programme Director for the Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence (SANTHE); Professor of Infectious Diseases at University College London, UK; Associate Member of the Ragon Institute; Adjunct Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and Provost's Visiting Professor of HIV Virology and Immunology at Imperial College London, UK. He is the recipient of several awards for scientific excellence and leadership contributions, including the South African Medical Research Council Gold Scientific Achievement Award, the Leadership Award in Public Health Practice from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, and the KT Jeang Retrovirology Prize in recognition of outstanding work on HIV. He has also received grant funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, the Science for Africa Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the South African National Research Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and others. His research focuses on understanding interactions between HIV and the immune system and how these may be harnessed and translated for HIV prevention or cure. --In this episode, he talks about his journey with HIV and immunology that has spanned at least three decades and birthed several groundbreaking contributions, the most recent being Africa’s first HIV cure trial for women living with the virus.

This 'bonus' episode celebrates our growth over the past 2+ years and revisits insightful moments from past episodes published in 2024.If any of these highlights interest you, feel free to check out the full episode for a more enriching experience.---Hosted by Wealth Okete, The Immunology in Africa Podcast explores narratives at the nexus of immunology & Africa. We ask professors, postdocs, PhD students, and everyone in between to tell us about their journey into immunology, the questions driving their current work, and the impact they hope to make on the continent.To support our efforts towards amplifying African stories of immunology, you can ⁠buy us coffee⁠ or ⁠nominate a guest⁠. ---Timestamps:00:00 - Intro01:04 - Segun Afolaranmi | "Optimising Natural Killer Cells against Cancers"01:14 - Oghenebrume Wariri | "Improving Access to Vaccines in Children"02:46 - Ousmane Traore | "Combating Malaria through Vaccines"03:14 - Samuel Essien-Baidoo | "Vaginal Microbiota and Cervical Cancer Risk in Women"04:12 - Rebecca Chukwuanukwu | "Immunity and Infection in Different Contexts"05:07 - Ane Ogbe | "T Cells Subsets in the Induction of Optimal Antibody Responses"05:42 - Catherine Kibirige | "Improving HIV Diagnosis through the HIVQuant Project"06:19 - Deo-Gracias P. Seyigbena Berry | "Could Vitamin D Protect Foetuses from a Deadly Parasite?"06:51 - Vania Maphossa | "Bridging the Gap: Immune Responses in the African Context"07:38 - Gatien Lokossou | "Immunity in Pregnant Women and Infants"08:12 - Samuel Essien-Baidoo | "Vaginal Microbiota and Cervical Cancer Risk in Women"10:10 - Ane Ogbe | "T Cells Subsets in the Induction of Optimal Antibody Responses"11:34 - Catherine Kibirige | "Improving HIV Diagnosis through the HIVQuant Project"12:08 - Segun Afolaranmi | "Optimising Natural Killer Cells against Cancers"13:15 - Onyeka Chukwudozie | "Outsmarting the Lassa Virus through a Multi-target Vaccine"13:53 - Ane Ogbe | "T Cells Subsets in the Induction of Optimal Antibody Responses"14:18 - Outro

ImmunoAfrica's Graduate Student Series offers emerging and aspiring immunologists the opportunity to connect with, learn from, and be inspired by some of the most talented immunology graduate students from Africa. For its second edition, this year, we peek into the fascinating work and busy lives of 4 graduate students (Vania, Onyeka, Deo-Gracias, and Segun), representing 3 African countries: Benin, Mozambique, and Nigeria. Our fourth and last guest is Segun Afolaranmi. Segun trained as a medical doctor at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and went on to complete his intern year of clinical practice. He developed a keen interest in cancer research and immunology towards the end of medical school, after noticing the grossly limited treatment options available to cancer patients in Nigeria. The desire to develop effective anticancer therapies that'd fit this context led him to study for a master's in Integrated Immunology at the University of Oxford, as a Clarendon Scholar. Shortly after his master's, he joined the de la Roche lab at Cancer Research UK, Cambridge Institute, in January 2022 to pursue his PhD in Cancer Immunology, with funding from the Gates Cambridge Trust. His PhD research seeks to make immune cells better cancer fighters by modifying an important developmental pathway. Alongside his scientific interests, Segun is passionate about expanding training opportunities for young scientists in Africa and working with others to accelerate access to cancer therapeutics on the continent. He is a co-founder of The Ganglion Initiative (TGI). This episode explores his journey to becoming fascinated with cancers and immunology, highlights what makes natural killer (NK) cells special to him, and curates his perspectives on local support for scientific research and development in Africa. Female Intro/Outro Voice-over: Ruth Ogboye Timestamps:00:00 - intro, about guest02:56 - career background, early journey into immunology05:19 - varied experience and exposures shape research interests08:19 - how interest in cancer immunology developed11:15 - updates on PhD research (making immune cells better cancer fighters) 16:37 - about natural killer (NK) cells 20:48 - cancers he's interested in tackling 22:38 - on collaborations (in cancer research; in Africa) 25:54 - local support for research and development in Africa 30:44 - PhD experience (time management, core values, lab skills and mistakes, etc.)39:38 - about The Ganglion Initiative43:36 - next steps post-PhD45:31 - fun tasks (which scientists in your field of study inspire you; transform CANCER into an immunology acronym)49:00 - outro

ImmunoAfrica's Graduate Student Series offers emerging and aspiring immunologists the opportunity to connect with, learn from, and be inspired by some of the most talented immunology graduate students from Africa. For its second edition, this year, we peek into the fascinating work and busy lives of 4 graduate students (Vania, Onyeka, Deo-Gracias, and Segun), representing 3 African countries: Benin, Mozambique, and Nigeria. Our second guest is Onyeka Chukwudozie. Onyeka Chukwudozie is a virologist, immunologist, and structural biologist from Nigeria, with a bachelor's degree in Cell Biology and Genetics from the University of Lagos. Currently a PhD candidate at the University of California, San Diego, and a member of the Erica Ollmann Saphire Lab at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, his research targets the notorious Lassa virus which has caused multiple outbreaks in West Africa for decades. He is leading research on the largest study to discover antibodies against the virus in Nigeria. Onyeka has received both the Curci and Merkin fellowships, collaborating with institutions such as IAVI, to advance studies on the Lassa virus vaccine. In this episode, Onyeka talks about his self-initiated journey to becoming fascinated with the field of immunology. He also shares updates on his current research to tease out antibody immune responses to the Lassa virus and develop a vaccine against its different lineages in Nigeria. Learn more about his work on ResearchGate. Female Intro/Outro Voice-over: Ruth Ogboye Timestamps: 00:00 - intro, about guest 02:45 - why immunology / how did you get into immunology 05:36 - about PhD research project (scope, implications, applications, etc.) 14:00 - how multidisciplinary expertise informs research 19:28 - PhD experience (time management and unwinding, mentoring and supporting junior and aspiring scientists, etc.) 27:07 - useful skills for graduate school success 32:07 - core values and principles 37:33 - next steps post-PhD 40:25 - fun task (transform ONYEKA into an immunology acronym; how many journal articles do you read in a day?) 45:16 - closing remarks 47:20 - outro

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 (estrogen) effects and sex chromosome (XX) effects. Now at Harvard Medical School, she is studying the gene expression and immune cell activation cascade upon interleukin-2 [IL-2] cytokine stimulation. IL-2 treatment has implications from infection to autoimmune diseases and cancer. She has won several awards including the U.S National Institute of Health Specialized Centers for Research Excellence award, the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health award, and the Paul Farmer Honorary award. Kumba is passionate about equipping researchers and young leaders from low- and middle-income countries to end infectious diseases and solve global challenges. This goal drives her commitment to mentoring students around the world and to leading community solution-driven projects in her home country, Sierra Leone. In this episode, she shares her inspiring journey from Sierra Leone to the United States, where she's currently pursuing her PhD in the field of immunology [Kumba's current research explores immune responses to the cytokine, interleukin-2 (IL-2)]. As usual, we also get to hear her thoughts on the current state of immunology in Africa as well as approaches for advancing research in the field. Time stamps: 00:00 - intro 02:43 - overview of academic and research journey 04:50 - how interest in immunology developed 08:03 - updates from research on sex differences and immune responses (at Johns Hopkins University) 12:50 - updates from research on IL-2 and immune responses (at Harvard Medical School) 15:47 - implications of research findings on infectious diseases 23:22 - life in graduate school (managing failures and successes; most favourite & least favourite experiments) 31:25 - core guiding principles 38:20 - thoughts on promoting immunology and scientific research in Africa 45:40 - fun task (share a eureka moment from the lab) 48:32 - outro

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 research explores the role of parasitic infections in the onset of this allergy and is jointly supervised by Professors Michael Levin and William Horsnell. Alongside being an Immunopaedia ambassador, Tatenda is also passionate about science communication. In this episode, we talk about his research on the link between the not-so-popular alpha-gal allergy and parasitic infections. Tatenda also shared his thoughts on how African scientists can better promote and strengthen science research and engagement in the continent. Time stamps: 00:00 - intro 02:16 - overview of academic and research journey 04:00 - why immunology research/at what point did you decide to explore immunology? 07:23 - journey to current research intersecting immunology and parasitology 09:45 - on alpha-gal allergy 18:53 - exploring the link between parasitic infection (via tick and mite bites) and alpha-gal allergy 24:20 - where has alpha-gal allergy been reported? 27:30 - how do we manage the allergy? 31:42 - life in graduate school (typical research experiments; managing failures and successes; guiding principles) 44:20 - thoughts on promoting immunology and scientific research in Africa 52:00 - fun task (what's one thing you love that you've not given much attention to since you got into graduate school?) 56:50 - outro

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 roles of galectin-3 and various cytokines on breast cancers. The overall goal of his research is to understand how galectin-3 might be used as a biomarker and therapeutic target in various malignancies, particularly breast cancers. In this episode, he shares some of the interesting findings he's made so far and the implications they hold for breast cancer patients in Africa. Time stamps: 00:00 - intro 02:20 - overview of academic and research journey 06:20 - why he got interested in immunology research? 10:25 - current research in graduate school + findings + implications 18:40 - on triple-negative breast cancers 21:00 - implications of current research for Africa 25:00 - life as a graduate student (typical day, lab work, coping with failure and success, etc.) 28:20 - challenges of studying in Senegal/Africa: funding, skills, etc. 34:22 - dealing with successes and failures 37:04 - creating more opportunities to promote immunology research in Africa 41:10 - guiding principles and perspectives 43:04 - fun task (what's your favourite immune cell) 45:10 - plans post-PhD 47:04 - outro

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 vaccines are seen in some regions compared to others and brings together researchers from around the world to make connections and form a strong network. Originally from Ghana, Dr. Amoah was born and raised in Southern Africa. She holds a PhD. in immunoepidemiology from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, an MSc in epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a bachelor's degree in biological sciences from Mount Holyoke College, United States. She has also held post-doctoral positions at both the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine based overseas in Malawi and Leiden University Medical Center. In this episode, we explored her research career starting from her earliest foray into addictive diseases in the US, through her relocation to Ghana, which led her into the field of immunology and, by extension, her current role. The crux of this episode is the promises the project she oversees at the HypoVax Global Knowledge Hub⁠ hold for Africa, especially in the context of vaccine development and distribution. Visit www.hypovax.org to learn more about this project, make inquiries, or explore opportunities for collaboration. Time stamps: 00.00 - intro; 02.37 - overview of educational and research background; 09.43 - blending immunology and epidemiology (immuno-epidemiology); 12.08 - the long, winding journey to her current role in understanding vaccine responses in different populations; 19.30 - more on understanding vaccine responses (promises for Africa); 26.51 - challenges associated with the project; 33:28 - final words (words of advice for emerging and established scientists, on navigating career post-PhD, etc.); 38.45 - outro