Characterising pathogen interactions with the host at an atomic, molecular, and tissue level to tackle infection and antimicrobial resistance
Dr. Oluwaremilekun Grace Ajakaye is a leading researcher in molecular parasitology and genomics of neglected tropical diseases at Adekunle Ajasin University, Nigeria. After completing her PhD in applied parasitology in 2016, she established herself as a lecturer and researcher before undertaking a prestigious African Postdoctoral Training Initiative Fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, USA. Following her postdoctoral work, Dr. Ajakaye founded the Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology and Genomics of Neglected Tropical Diseases (LAMP-GNTD) at her home institution, where she led an independent research group. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular epidemiology and genomic architecture of neglected protozoa and helminth parasites. With 12 first-author publications and multiple research grants to her name, she actively mentors the next generation of African scientists. At EMBL-EBI, Dr. Ajakaye is expanding her bioinformatics expertise in the John Lees group, developing computational pipelines for whole genome sequencing and metagenomics analysis. This knowledge will enhance her lab’s research capabilities and enable her to provide bioinformatics training to researchers in Nigeria, strengthening the continent’s computational biology capacity.