Position & Affiliation:
PhD, university of Cambridge
www.linkedin.com/in/ntombizodwa-makuyana

Research Interests:

I research lung T regulatory cells and characterize their role in downplaying immune responses and tissue repair during an infection.

Position & Affiliation:
Senior Research Associate, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk
www.cser.ac.uk/team/lara-mani

Research Interests:

My research interests include understanding how to do effective risk communications for volcanic risk, high-impact risks and multi-hazard risks. I'm interested in exploring how risk perceptions influence disaster risk preparedness within at-risk communities and building resilience with stakeholders to better prepare for future disasters. I also also interested in the systemic nature of risk and how risks can interact with our global systems to cause widespread impacts.

Publications:
https://www.lyellcollection.org/doi/10.1144/SP539-2022-297

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25021-8

Position & Affiliation:
Director of the Behaviour and Health Research Unit, Dept of Public Health and Primary Care; Professor of Behaviour and Health (Honorary)
www.bhru.iph.cam.ac.uk

Research Interests:

The majority of premature deaths worldwide are from chronic non-communicable diseases (principally cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases), most of which occur in low and middle income countries. Reducing this burden requires changing behaviour in populations to reduce smoking, obesity, and alcohol consumption. I lead a programme of research aimed at developing the most effective ways of changing these behaviours in populations principally targeting automatic processes, focused on high income countries.

Publications:
(1) Marteau TM et al. Changing human behaviour to prevent disease: the importance of targeting automatic processes. Science (in press).


(2) Marteau TM et al. Judging Nudging: can ?

(3) Winpenny E, Marteau TM, Nolte E Assessing UK youth exposure to alcohol marketing on social media websites. Social Science and Medicine (under review).

Position & Affiliation:
Research Associate
www.phpc.cam.ac.uk/people/ceu-group/ceu-research-s…

Research Interests:

My work focuses on Mendelian Randomisation (MR) methods and applications to genetic data. My current research interests involve extending existing methods such as where the underlying causal relationships are non-linear or investigating best practice when methods are being applied across heterogeneous subpopulations of different sizes, such as multi-ancestry analyses. I have a particular interest in work involving LBGT+ populations and public communication methods.

Publications:
Bassett, E, Broadbent, J, Gill, D, Burgess, S, Mason, AM. Inconsistency in UK Biobank event definitions from different data sources and its impact on representativeness: a case study of venous thromboembolism. (Accepted Nov 2023) In: American Journal of Epidemiology.

Mason, AM, Burgess, S. Software Application Profile: SUMnlmr, an R package that facilitates flexible and reproducible non-linear Mendelian randomization analyses. 21 June 2022. In: International Journal of Epidemiology doi: 10.1093/ije/dyac150

Mason, AM, Obi, I, Ayodele, O, Lambert, SA, Fahle, S. What makes a good life: using theatrical performance to enhance communication about polygenic risk scores research in patient and public involvement. 10 February 2023. In: Journal of Community Genetics doi: 10.1007/s12687-023-00635-1

Position & Affiliation:
Assistant Director of Studies for Medicine, Gonville and Caius College; Cambridge, Consultant Gastroenterologist

Research Interests:

Gastroenterology and Multivisceral Transplantation

Publications:
(1) Massey D., Parkes, M. (2007) Common pathways in Crohn's disease and other inflammatory diseases revealed by genomics. Gut. 2007 Nov;56(11):1489-92. Epub 2007 Jul 16.

(2) Zhang H1, Massey D, Tremelling M, Parkes M. (2008) Genetics of inflammatory bowel disease: clues to pathogenesis. Br Med Bull. 2008;87:17-30. doi: 10.1093/bmb/ldn031. Epub 2008 Aug 27.

Position & Affiliation:
Reader in Infection and Immunity, Dept of Veterinary Medicine

Research Interests:

Systems biology and in vivo dynamics of bacterial infections. Immunity to bacterial infections and vaccine development.

Current African links: Collaborating and in the process of applying for funding with the Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust Centre in Blantyre.

Publications:
(1) Modeling within-host spatiotemporal dynamics of invasive bacterial disease. Grant AJ et al. PLoS Biol. 2008; 6: e74.

(2) A dynamic view of the spread and intracellular distribution of Salmonella enterica. Mastroeni P et al. Nature Rev. Microbiol. 2009; 7: 73-80.

(3) The effects of vaccination and immunity on bacterial infection dynamics in vivo. C. Coward, O. Restif, R. Dybowski, A. Grant, D. Maskell, Pietro Mastroeni. PLoS Pathog. 2014; 10(9):e1004359

Position & Affiliation:
Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History Professorial Fellow, Emmanuel College, Primary Affiliation is to the History Faculty

Research Interests:

Mission history in colonial and post-colonial settings; the religious encounter of Christianity with African traditional religion; indigenous African Christian movements; Pentecostalism, transnationalism and religious globalization; missionary and African contributions to the creation of so-called ‘colonial knowledge’; religion and the media, particularly religious print and photography.

 

Current African links:
University of Zimbabwe
University of Witwatersrand
University of Lubumbashi

Publications:
Christians and Chiefs in Zimbabwe: A Social History of the Hwesa People c.1870s-1990s (International African Library/Edinburgh University Press, 1999)

African Gifts of the Spirit: Pentecostalism and the Rise of a Zimbabwean Transnational Religious Movement (Oxford, James Currey, 2006)

(ed. with Patrick Harries) The Spiritual in the Secular. Missionaries and Knowledge about Africa (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Eerdmans, 2012)

Position & Affiliation:
Junior Research Fellow in Linguistics, Trinity College; Affiliated Lecturer, French, Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics

Research Interests:

Language endangerment; Language revitalization; Multilingualism; Language contact; New urban vernaculars; French; Creole languages; Nigerian Pidgin English; Nouchi; Camfranglais

Position & Affiliation:
Senior research associate, Dept Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge

Research Interests:

Plant and algal biotechnology and biochemistry. Member of several collaborative projects that use synthetic biology and metabolic engineering to develop new production systems for high value compounds. Experienced supervisor of undergrad and graduate students for wide-ranging projects and served on the advisory Board for PHYCONET, a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Network in Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy (BBSRC NiBB). Co-investigator of Research England GCRF-QR and Cambridge-Africa funded project titled “Making new products and processes from fruit and vegetable waste in Ghana”.

Position & Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Pathology Dept
www.path.cam.ac.uk/directory/catherine-merrick

Research Interests:

My group studies the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Research interests are centred around DNA biology, particularly the molecular mechanisms underlying DNA replication and cell cycle control in Plasmodium. I am also interested in the roles that G-quadruplex DNA and RNA structures play in the parasite, and in epigenetics, chromatin structure and virulence gene control. I have expertise in molecular genetics, cell biology and biochemistry in P. falciparum & P. knowlesi, and experience collaborating with researchers in The Gambia and Kenya.

Publications:
'Checks and Balances? DNA replication and the cell cycle in Plasmodium.' Matthews, H., Duffy C.W., Merrick, C.J. REVIEW. Parasites & Vectors doi:10.1186/s13071-018-2800-1 (2018).

'G-quadruplexes in pathogens: a common route to virulence control?' Harris, L.M. and Merrick, C.J. REVIEW. PLoS Pathogens 11(2):e1004562. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1004562 (2015).

‘DNA replication dynamics during erythrocytic schizogony in the malaria parasites Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium knowlesi’ McDonald, J., Merrick, C.J. Plos Pathogens, 18(6): e1010595. doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1010595 (2022).

Position & Affiliation:
Director, Cambridge Computational Biology Institute, Dept of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics; Dept of Genetics
www.sysbiol.cam.ac.uk/index.php

Research Interests:

Bioinformatics, genomics, synthetic biology.

Publications:
(1) Celniker SE et al. (2009) Unlocking the secrets of the genome. Nature 459: 927-930.

(2) Lyne R et al. (2007) FlyMine: an integrated database for Drosophila and Anopheles genomics. Genome Biology 8: R129 PMID: 1761505.

(3) Choksi SP et al. (2006) Prospero Acts as a Binary Switch between Self-Renewal and Differentiation in Drosophila Neural Stem Cells. Developmental Cell 11: 775-789. PMID: 17141154.

Position & Affiliation:
Senior Research Associate, Centre of Development Studies
www.devstudies.cam.ac.uk/people/academic/nsh29.htm…

Research Interests:

Nazia Mintz-Habib is interested in identifying pathways to improve the global value chain of agricultural commodities to ensure food security. She has studied the political economy of food security and global value chains for the past decade. To better understand food security, Nazia looks at the comparative development of agribusinesses and global commodity value chain expansions in developing economies. She studied cases in Bangladesh, Nicaragua, Malaysia, Tanzania and India. Lately, Nazia is keen to understand institutional system change in the agricultural sector as influenced by new commodities like biofuels and technologies like agrobiotechnology. She is currently authoring a book on biofuels and food security.

 

Current African Links:
Tanzania and South Africa

Publications:
Mintz-Habib,N (2014) Biofuels, Food Security and Developing Economies, Routledge Publishers (In process)

Behnassi, M, Shahid, S and Mintz-Habib (eds). (2014). Science, Policy and Politics of Modern Agricultural System.Global Context to Local Dynamics of Sustainable Agriculture. Springer

Mintz-Habib, N.(2013) Malaysian Biofuels Experience: A socio-political analysis of the commercial environment, Energy Policy, 64(February) 2013

Position & Affiliation:
Director of the Duckworth Laboratory, Reader in Human Evolutionary Biology, LCHES, Dept of Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Cambridge
human-evol.cam.ac.uk

Research Interests:

My research interests are very broad, but my work has focused mainly on the evolution and diversity of modern humans, Homo sapiens. This research has involved a range of disciplines, including human palaeontology, evolutionary genetics, behavioural ecology, linguistics and prehistoric archaeology. I currently have field projects in Kenya (palaeoanthropology), Uganda (prehistory) and Libya (prehistory).

 

Current African links: We currently have active projects in Kenya and Uganda, and I supervise 2 African PhD students (Denis Misiko Mukhongo, Herman Muwonge).

Publications:
Foley, R.A., Maillo-Fernandez, J.M. & Mirazón Lahr, M. (2013) The Middle Stone Age of the Central Sahara: Biogeographical opportunities and technological strategies in later human evolution. Quaternary International 300: 153-170.

Mirazon Lahr, M. (2013) Genetic and fossil evidence for modern human origins. In: P. Mitchell & P. Lane (Eds.). Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology, pp 325-340. Oxford: OUP.

Migliano, A.B. et al. (2013) Evolution of the pygmy phenotype: Evidence of positive selection from genome-wide scans in African, Asian and Melanesian pygmies. Human Biology 85(1-3): 251-284.

Position & Affiliation:
Professor of Reproductive Immunology, Dept of Pathology
www.path.cam.ac.uk/research/investigators/moffett

Research Interests:

I work on how the mothers immune system in the uterus regulates placentation so that both demands of baby and health of mother are optimal. This balance goes wrong in major disorders of pregnancy such as pre-eclampsia, still-birth, recurrent miscarriage and poor fetal growth. These diseases are far more prevalent in Africa for reasons that are unknown. We are looking for the variation in the immune system genes in Africans to see if this is part of their susceptibility.

Possible project topics: Maternal health in Africa, particularly HIV and pre-eclampsia.

Current African links: I have a PhD student who is recruiting pre-eclampsia and control patients in Entebbe for KIR and HLA genotyping in Cambridge. I will be visiting the hospital and labs in Kampala in 2010.

Position & Affiliation:
Shuttleworth Research Fellow, Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
openbioeconomy.org

Research Interests:

I study the potential for local, distributed manufacturing of enzymes to improve access and build capacity for biological research. This work combines technical development of enzymes and expression systems using synthetic biology-based platform technologies with qualitative research on challenges faces by molecular biologists globally through interviews and case studies.

Position & Affiliation:
Professor of Cardiopulmonary Medicine, Dept of Medicine
www.med.cam.ac.uk/HTML/PI/Morell/index.html

Research Interests:

My research group is studying the molecular mechanisms of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), in particular the molecular and cell biology of familial PAH caused by mutations in the bone morphogenetic protein type 2 receptor (BMPR2). One of the main consequences of BMPR2 mutation is an exaggerated inflammatory response and release of inflammatory cytokines. We have developed a new mouse model of PAH caused by Schistosomiasis, and we are examining the role of BMPR2, progenitor cells and cytokines in this model.

Possible project topics: Mechanisms of PAH caused by Schistosomiasis. Field studies of the epidemiology of PAH associated with Schistosomiasis.

Current African links: Sudan.

Position & Affiliation:
Fellow in Sociology, Jesus College, Cambridge & HSPS Faculty
www.sociology.cam.ac.uk/people/academic-staff/vmot…

Research Interests:

 

 

 

 

Position & Affiliation:
Professor in Comparative Oncology and Genetics, Department of Veterinary Medicine
www.vet.cam.ac.uk/directory/murchison

Research Interests:

Our lab works on the genetics and evolution of transmissible cancers. There are only two known naturally occurring clonally transmissible cancers and these are the Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) and the canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT). These two cancers are transmitted between individuals by the transfer of living cancer cells. We use genetics, genomics and molecular biology to understand the origins, evolution and disease dynamics of the DFTD and CTVT clones.

Possible project topics: If you would be interested in getting involved with our worldwide Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumour Project (CTVT Project) either through collecting samples of canine transmissible venereal tumour or by giving us information about any cases you have seen, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! We would be delighted to hear about any of your observations of canine transmissible venereal tumour.

Current African links: Our collaborators help us with sample collection of canine transmissible venereal tumour samples all around the world, including a number of African countries (Cape Verde, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, The Gambia, Uganda).

 

 

Publications:
Murchison EP, Wedge DC, Alexandrov LB, Fu, B, Martincorena I, Ning Z, Tubio JMC, Werner EI, Allen J, Barboza de Nardi A, Donelan EM, Marino G, Fassati A, Campbell PJ, Yang F, Burt A, Weiss RA, Stratton MR (2014) Transmissible dog cancer genome reveals the origin and history of an ancient cell lineage. Science. Jan 24;343(6169):437-40

Murchison EP, Schulz-Trieglaff OB, Ning Z, Alexandrov LB, Bauer MJ, Fu B, Hims M, Ding Z, Ivakhno S, Stewart C, Ng BL, Wong W, Aken B, Alsop A, Becq J, Bignell GR, Cheetham RK, Cheng W, Connor TR, Cox AJ, Feng Z, Gu Y, Grocock RJ, Harris SR, Khrebtukova I, Kingsbury Z, Kowarsky M, Kreiss A, Luo S, Marshall J, McBride DJ, Murray L, Pearse AM, Raine K, Rasolonjatovo I, Shaw R, Tedder P, Tregidgo C, White S, Woods GM, Gormley N, Humphray S, Schroth G, Smith G, Hall K, Searle S, Carter N, Papenfuss AT, Futreal PA, Campbell P, Yang F, Bentley DR, Evers DJ and Stratton MR (2012) Genome sequencing and analysis of the Tasmanian devil and its transmissible cancer. Cell. Feb 17;148(4):780-91

Murchison EP (2009) Clonally transmissible cancers in dogs and Tasmanian devils. Oncogene 27: S19 – S30

Position & Affiliation:
Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience
neuroscience.cam.ac.uk/member/gm285

Research Interests:

I work on the causes, brain mechanisms and treatments of mental disorder using statistical genomics (and other 'omics), brain imaging, computational psychiatry, pharmacological and neuropsychological studies. I am interested in the research and clinical applications of risk scores, including polygenic risk scores and clinical informatic risk prediction models.