Vientiane, Vientiane Capital, Laos
I am a microbiologist with over 15 years of post-PhD experience in virology, immunology, and bacteriology, with deep expertise in innate and cellular immunology, molecular virology, and vaccine research. My work has focused on advancing innovative technologies to infectious disease control, including reverse vaccinology and recombinant viral vector platforms to elicit protective immunity against animal pathogens. Since 2019, I have led multidisciplinary teams and managed multimillion-dollar research projects. These include developing phage-based therapies to combat antimicrobial resistance in Kenya, directing the development of CRISPR-Cas-powered point-of-care diagnostics for animal pathogens, and leading research into the immune and cellular mechanisms underlying resistance to East Coast fever. I have a proven track record of driving vaccine and health products research initiatives and delivering health innovations in complex, multicultural environments across the international nonprofit sector. My experience focuses on the early stages of product development, from strategic planning and initial research through proof of concept, including managing collaborations across multiple regions. I currently lead the Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (VPD) and Immunology Laboratory at the Institut Pasteur du Laos, overseeing research on human infectious diseases with a focus on VPDs. My scientific contributions include more than 70 research outputs, including over 30 peer-reviewed scientific publications and more than 40 presentations at international scientific conferences.
Lead co-principal investigator and project leader at ILRI: https://www.idrc.ca/en/project/using-phages-replacement-antibiotics-and-reduction-drug-resistant-nontyphoidal-salmonella
Vaccinology-Use of viral vectors for vaccination against East Coast fever (ECF). Antigen discovery. Emerging viruses. Field studies.
-Develop a reverse vaccinology (immunoinformatic) approach for epitope discovery to enable the creation of better subunit vaccines against the apicomplexan parasite Theileria parva (1. utilization of 454 Next-Generation sequencing technology to evaluate the repertoire of class I MHC expression in cattle. 2. use artificial neural networks to predict immunodominant peptide binding in cattle MHC molecules. 3. discover and evaluate new immunodominant peptide using peptide-MHC tetramer technology and ELIspot/Cr release assays. 4. test new vaccines). -Molecular epidemiology of Peste-des-Petits-Ruminants (PPR) virus in East Africa.
Setting-up a virology research laboratory