Mtakai Ngara

Every cell is unique and generates distinct molecular response(s) in disease.
Understanding these perturbations at single cell resolution is critical in
unravelling complex, yet important diseases such as malaria.
In areas of endemic malaria transmission, individuals living in
geographically defined regions often present distinct phenotypes when
infected by the Plasmodium falciparum. I am interested in applying a systems
approach to understanding how immune cells define the three key outcomes of
malaria infection namely: asymptomatic, mild and symptomatic. To this end, we
will adopt single cell RNA-seq and other genome-wide technologies to profile
T lymphocytes derived from a high-resolution longitudinal cohort from Lake
Victoria islands in Kenya. This will provide an opportunity to gain novel
insight(s) into the disease in field transmission context and enhance our
understanding of the main drivers of adaptive response to malaria infection.