International Fellows together with colleagues. Credit: Wellcome Sanger Institute
The Sanger Institute’s current International Fellows all met for the first time recently, to discuss their research and share their latest work on genomics and global health.
The Wellcome Sanger Institute currently has five International Fellows appointed – each a global leader working on genomics projects in a low- or middle-income country. The aim of the scheme is to advance the health of the global community. The Fellows receive flexible funding and access to high-throughput genomic and computational resources available at the Sanger Institute. Fellows also have collaborative projects with Faculty at the Institute.
The International Fellows scheme was launched in June 2012, following a proposal made by Professor Gordon Dougan, with the appointment of Professors Sam Kariuki and Abdoulaye Djimdé. Last week, the Programme Chair Dr Trevor Lawley brought the current fellows together for the first time.
“It was fantastic to see these global leaders in genomic science come together recently. Each play a critical role in shaping the future of science and fostering a culture of collaboration across borders and across scientific disciplines.”
Dr Trevor Lawley,
Group Leader, Parasites and Microbes programme, Wellcome Sanger Institute
Current International Fellows
Dr Annettee Nakimuli
Dr Annettee Nakimuli is a leading maternal health researcher based in Uganda. She is focused on investigating the causes, treatment and prevention of pregnancy complications among women in sub-Saharan Africa – who have the highest risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes anywhere in the world.
Annettee is an Associate Professor and the Dean of the School of Medicine at Makerere University, in Uganda. She is also a clinician at Mulago and Kawempe Hospitals which together have the greatest number of annual births of any hospital in sub-Saharan Africa, at 30,000.
Her research interest is pre-eclampsia, a major cause of maternal illness and death in sub-Saharan Africa. At the meeting, she shared some of her work on investigating genetic variants that may increase the risk of pre-eclampsia. Annettee also described her work to set up long-term studies to assess women at risk of the condition. Without these data, it is difficult to determine the causes, and risk factors and best approaches for managing the condition in the region. She is recruiting 5,000 women to the study, between the two hospitals, who will be closely monitored throughout their pregnancies. DNA and other biological samples are being stored for future analysis, too.
“It has been a very refreshing retreat and I feel more energised to use genomics to address maternal health challenges in Africa.”
Dr Annettee Nakimuli
International Fellow, Makerere University, Uganda
Annettee has collaborations with Dr Roser Vento-Tormo in the Cellular Genetics Programme and Dr Emma Davenport in the Human Genetics Programme and Dr Stephen Bentley in the Parasites and Microbes Programme at the Sanger Institute.
Professor Pablo Tsukayama
Dr Pablo Tsukayama is an Associate Professor of microbiology at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru. His research interests lie at the interface of genomics, public health and infectious disease epidemiology, with a focus on bacterial and viral pathogens affecting Peruvian populations.
He shared his work on drug-resistant bacteria, and the transmission of drug resistance between pathogens. He described his work in peri-urban communities in Lima, Peru, where water is scarce and sanitation is inadequate, meaning contamination, and opportunity for the exchange of pathogens and genes between pathogens is common. He also covered other projects his team is working on, including on multi-drug resistant Klebsiella – a bacteria that causes infections in hospitals, on tuberculosis, and since the COVID pandemic, on the genomic surveillance and identification of SARS-CoV-2 variants.
Pablo has collaborations with Dr Ewan Harrison on the Respiratory Virus and Microbes Initiative, and Dr Nick Thompson and others in the Parasites and Microbes Programme at the Sanger Institute.
“We're at a key moment for genomic surveillance and understanding how human pathogens evolve and transmit in Latin America. There is momentum from public health. And so we've tried to delve into the core issues, to generate the evidence we need to move forwards.”
Dr Pablo Tsukayama
International Fellow, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru
Claire Chewapreecha
Dr Claire Chewapreecha is based at the MORU Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit in Thailand. Claire is committed to improving public health in Southeast Asia through the development of high quality biomedical research. She works on melioidosis, a neglected tropical infectious disease predicted to affect 165,000 people a year worldwide, of which 89,000 die.
Claire’s current work is focussed on understanding the genetics of Burkholderia pseudomallei, the bacterium that causes the disease, as well as human genetic factors that might explain why some people infected become ill when others do not. Her team is also investigating the bacterium’s epidemiology and evolution. Claire is involved in public health initiatives to raise awareness of the condition and prevent infection. Her most recent work has been to develop a rapid diagnostic test for the disease. The test could potentially save many lives from melioidosis.
Professor Nick Thomson, Head of Parasites and Microbes at the Sanger Institute who collaborates closely with Claire, commented on the latest work: “Using a genetic target mined from a bank of thousands of bacterial genomes, the team was able to produce an incredibly sensitive test that is specific to the bacterium behind melioidosis. This research is a testament to international collaboration and how the application of genomics at scale linked with a deep biological understanding of the disease leads to clinical intervention.”
Claire also collaborates with Dr Emma Davenport, in the Human Genetics Programme.
Professor Alfred Amambua-Ngwa
Professor Alfred Amambua-Ngwa is a Cameroonian biochemist with experience and research interest in the use of biotechnology and genomics to understand the evolution and transmission of infectious pathogens, and to develop new interventions towards their elimination.
His research team applies in vitro cell assays and analysis of genomic variation to determine response of the major malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum to changes in its environment including response to drugs and transmission. Alfred explores genetic variation in parasite, human and vector populations across Africa that may determine variance in outcome of exposure and infection with Plasmodium species.
At the Sanger institute, Alfred collaborates with researchers in the MalariaGEN programme to sequence malaria parasite and mosquito vector genomes for evolution and transmission studies.
Dr Dr Daniela Robles-Espinoza
Dr Daniela Robles-Espinoza is an Associate Professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Her team studies the genetic causes and architecture of acral melanoma, the most common type of melanoma in Mexico and other countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Despite this, there are few studies focused on the disease. And more generally, there are very few genetic studies focusing on Latin American individuals. As a result, samples from Latin American people are underrepresented in genetic data repositories – something Daniela aims to change.
Daniela has recently been awarded a Wellcome Career Development Fellowship – funding designed to support the future leaders of international research. At the Sanger Institute, she collaborates with Dr David Adams in the Cancer, Ageing and Somatic Mutations programme.
“It was fantastic meeting in person for the first time at the Wellcome Genome Campus. Discussing among ourselves and others, we were able to identify shared challenges and potential routes to collaboration in the future. Likewise, the dedicated sessions with funding agency representatives and grant writing consultants was very enriching.”
Dr Daniela Robles-Espinoza
International Fellow, LIIGH-UNAM, Mexico
“The International Fellows Programme is integral to our global mission of advancing genome research. This scheme empowers scientists from lower- and middle-income countries by providing access to our state-of-the-art genomic technologies and resources, fostering collaborations across the world. We were delighted to recently host our current fellows and found their dynamism and enthusiasm truly inspiring.”
Professor Matthew Hurles
Sanger Institute Director
