Center of Molecular Immunology
Kathya R. de la Luz
Head of Analytics Department

Kathya R. de la Luz completed her PhD at the age of 32 in 2009 from University of Havana, Cuba in collaboration with Simon Gaskell group in Manchester University, UK. She is the Head of Protein Analysis Department from Process Development Direction, INIM, at the Center of Molecular Immunology in Cuba. She has published more than 15 papers in reputed journals and is serving as an editorial board member of repute.

Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro
Hamtandi Natama
Research Engineer

Hamtandi Magloire NATAMA is a research engineer and acting as laboratory director at the Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro, an institution in Burkina Faso that participated in the phase 3 trial of RTS,S/AS01. He is currently doing his PhD at the University of Antwerp with a scholarship awarded by the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium. His research interest is focused on genetic and immunological factors that modulate the risk of malaria in early infancy.

Institut Pasteur de Tunis
Héla Kallel
Senior Scientist

Héla Kallel received a PhD in Biotechnology from the Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine (Nancy, France). Currently, she is a senior scientist at Institut Pasteur de Tunis (Tunisia); she leads the Biotechnology Development Group. Her current research interests include process optimization and novel process development using animal cells and yeasts for biopharmaceutical production, mainly vaccines. She published over 40 papers in international scientific journals.

Medical Research Council Unit
Muhammed Afolabi
Principal Investigator

Muhammed Afolabi obtained a medical degree from the University of Ibadan and a master’s degree in public health from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. He also holds the postgraduate fellowships of the West African College of Physicians and National Postgraduate Medical College in Family Medicine. He obtained a PhD from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in February 2015.

Since 2009 when he joined Medical Research Council The Gambia (MRC), Muhammed has coordinated the clinical and field aspects of an infant HIV-1 vaccine trial and malaria vectored vaccine trials in adults, children and infants. He is currently the Principal Investigator leading a team of scientists from MRC, The Gambia and UCAD, Senegal on a collaborative trial aimed at evaluating the interference of candidate malaria vaccines when co-administered with Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) vaccines in Gambian infants and neonates.

Muhammed received the MRC Director’s Award in November 2013 and MRC Chief Executive Officer’s commendation Award in 2014.

Monash University
Catherine Chang
PhD Student

Catherine Chang is a PhD candidate at the Department of Chemical Engineering in Monash University Malaysia. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering (First-Class Honours) from Monash University. In 2014, she was awarded the Endeavour Award from the Australian Government to undertake her research fellowship in Monash University, Melbourne. During her research fellowship, she worked under the main supervision of Prof. Ashley Buckle. Her research interests are soluble protein expression, process optimization and bioinformatics.

Monash University
Lo Sewn Cen
PhD Student

Lo Sewn Cen is a PhD student from Monash University, Malaysia under Higher Degree by Research (HDR) Scholarship. She received her Master’s Degree from Universiti Putra Malaysia. Her research interest is on the development of immunocontraceptive vaccine and integrated approach of cell disruption & recovery of protein by aqueous two-phase system (ATPS).

Monash University
R. Nagasundara Ramanan
Senior Lecturer

Dr. R. Nagasundara Ramanan joined Monash University Malaysia in 2010 and is currently a senior lecturer in the School of Engineering. Prior to joining Monash, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Universiti Putra Malaysia. Besides, he has a decade of multi-national industrial experience in petro-chemical sector before pursuing his PhD in bioprocess engineering, UPM. Ramanan has published more than 40 international journal articles. His research interests include biomolecular engineering, bioprocess modeling and interaction of biomolecules.

Oswaldo Cruz Foundation
Jordana Reis
Research Scientist

Dr. Jordana Coelho-dos Reis is a Research Scientist at René Rachou Research Center, FIOCRUZ Foundation, in Brazil. Dr. Reis holds a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology and has had postdoctoral experience at Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center (Rockefeller University) working with the development of vaccine adjuvants. She is currently committed to improving the efficacy of Yellow Fever vaccine.

Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
Cecilia A Marques-Toledo
PhD Student

Phd Student in Immunology at UFMG (ufmg.br), biologist and consulting technical officer for research and services in dengue surveillance and prevention at the company Ecovec (ecovec.com), member of the National Institute for Science and Technology on Dengue (INCT-Dengue) in Brazil. Recently, has studied and characterized models for evaluation of dengue vulnerability and receptivity risk per area, connecting epidemiological, environmental and immunological data from continuous monitoring, for future prevention methods and vaccine trials.

Xiamen University
Qinjian Zhao
Professor in Biochemistry and Vaccinology

Dr. Qinjian Zhao received his PhD in 1993 at The Catholic University of America, and then performed post-doctoral training at JHMI. After ~15-year work at MRL Bioprocess R&D working on vaccine development, in 2011, he joined Xiamen University and continues his research on vaccine and biologics development. He also teaches related courses related to biologics and vaccinology. His research focuses on HPV, HBV, Hepatitis E virus, VZV, etc. with over 70 peer-reviewed publications.