Isabella Oyier is an Associate Professor and the Head of the Biosciences Department at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP). She is currently a Calestous Juma Fellow, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since 2021, to integrate malaria molecular epidemiology into routine surveillance in Kenya, a project that partners with the Division of National Malaria Programme (DNMP) to implement malaria molecular surveillance activities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she led testing efforts and co-ordinated the regional genomic surveillance in collaboration with Africa CDC and WHO-Afro. With recent funding from Wellcome, she leads a project to continue work nationally and regionally on COVID-19; to establish a platform for immunological surveillance to identify and report, in near real-time, on the immune escape potential of newly emergent SARS-CoV-2 variants.
She previously was awarded a Wellcome Intermediate Fellowship and was a Visiting Lecturer at the Centre for Biotechnology and Bioinformatics (CEBIB), University of Nairobi, in 2011-2016. She has been and is a member of several technical working groups on genomic surveillance, including the DNMP Operational Research committee of experts and Africa CDC malaria genomic surveillance advisory group. She has over 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Her research interests are in Plasmodium falciparum malaria molecular epidemiology, focusing on the spatial and temporal use of molecular tools to: 1) examine genetic variation in merozoite antigens that are potential candidates for blood stage vaccines and its impact on naturally acquired immunity; 2) define complexity of infection while examining the impact of interventions or changes in malaria epidemiology; 3) distinguish persistent infections and reinfections in both therapeutic efficacy studies and in longitudinal follow up of asymptomatic individuals; and 4) monitor drug resistance molecular markers.
