Elizabeth Chimbayo is a PhD student in Immunology registered with the University of Glasgow under the supervision of Professors Henry Mwandumba (MLW), James Brewer, and Paul Garside (University of Glasgow).
She joined MLW in 2016 as a Research Assistant in the Mucosal and Vascular immunology group on a multicenter randomized controlled trial assessing rapid urine-based screening for TB to reduce AIDS-related mortality in hospitalized patients in Africa (STAMP study). She has worked with Professor Henry Mwandumba (MLW) in collaboration with Prof. David Russell from Cornell University (USA) on a study of Ex-vivo use of Mycobacteria tuberculosis (Mtb) reporter strains to probe the host immune control of Mtb infection.
The research experience she gained inspired her deeper passion for research for science.
“The mentorship and support I received helped me to be a competitive candidate for international applications and I feel honoured and privileged to be awarded this prestigious travel scholarship to attend the 24th IFCC EuroMedLab Congress in Munich Germany. By participating in this course, I will develop a better understanding of up-to-date concepts of principles of Immunology and research skills, as well as the technical expertise that I hope to implement here in Malawi. Eventually, this will promote research integrity and improve the lives of people. Furthermore, the interactive nature of this course will allow me to network and learn about scientific advances from other medical experts and researchers in different fields.
I am looking forward to learning new cutting-edge techniques in laboratory medicine that can aid in accurate diagnosis of disease and patient management. With the growing increase of infectious and chronic diseases such as COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS respectively, Biomedical research is critical in diagnosis, treatment monitoring as well as vaccine development. Therefore, there is a need to equip Biomedical researchers with the required knowledge to achieve credible and excellent research. My vision is to contribute towards finding scientifically tailored solutions to current public health challenges facing populations of Malawi and Africa through a lab-based approach,” Eliza said.
Elizabeth’s project focuses on understanding the impact of HIV on the diversity and dynamics of T cell receptor repertoire in the lung of Malawian Adults with Pulmonary Tuberculosis.
Congratulations, Eliza!
