Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

Mathias Baeumlisberger finished his Doctoral thesis at the University Medical Centre Freiburg at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (Germany) in 2016 and then started working for the Merck KGaA/Sigma-Aldrich Production GmbH in Buchs Switzerland. He is Senior Scientist in the R&D Reference Materials & Proficiency Testing department.

Hafiz Zaid Mahmood is a Microbiologist by profession and works with different food industries in the Quality Department in Pakistan. He holds a B.Sc.(Hons) in Microbiology and currently pursuing a Master of Science degree in Molecular Biology at the Department of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Virtual University of Pakistan. Hafiz Zaid has more than 5 years of working experience and leading in QA/QC Department of different Food and Packaging industries. He has also participated and presented his research in an international workshop on “technological, biochemical, microbiological, sensorial and manufacturing aspects of Groundwater and Mineral water” at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, 2106. He is Pursuing his career in the food industry and is passionate about working in renowned research institutes.

Henryk Kalisz obtained his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Manchester University, has published over 60 papers in reputed scientific journals. He has over 30 years of experience in industrial enzymology and biotechnology. After his Ph.D., he worked as a postdoctorate at the University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany, before taking up a senior scientist role at the National Research Institute (Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Forschung) in Braunschweig, Germany. He subsequently worked as Head of Biochemistry at Pharmacia, Nerviano, Italy, and as Chief Scientific Officer at Eucodis Bioscience in Vienna, Austria. Since October 2011 he has been applying his expertise in industrial enzymology as a consultant and independent representative to provide scientific and technological advice and assistance to various Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals organizations.

Javier Ochoa-Repáraz received his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences (Cellular and Molecular Biology Program) from the University of Navarra in Spain. He was trained as a postdoctoral scientist at Montana State University and Dartmouth College, exploring the impact of the gut mucosal immune responses to microbes on CNS inflammatory demyelination. At Dartmouth College, he studied mechanisms of immunomodulation induced by gut symbionts and polysaccharide A (PSA) produced by Bacteroides fragilis in the context of multiple sclerosis (MS) using animal models of the disease. He has industry experience working for a large pharmaceutical company as a scientific member of their MS platform. As a faculty at EWU, he continues working on the reciprocal interaction between the gut microbiome and disease, with a specific focus on immunomodulation mediated by gut microbes and microbiome-modifying treatments in CNS demyelinating inflammation.

Dr Mithilesh Jaiswal is an industrial microbiologist has expertise in Starter cultures, Probiotics, Synbiotics, Enzymes and Biofertilizers. He has more than 14 years of Research and 10 years of Industrial experience. For his work he has received various recognition and appreciation at National and International level. He has also developed various formulations for human and animal health care. He obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degree from R.D. University, Jabalpur (M.P.), India. He is currently working on synbiotic product development for Human and Animal health application and its commercialization. He has published various research papers and articles in peer reviewed journals.

Alicia Showering is a final year PhD student at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine working on a multi-disciplinary project exploring the role of the skin microbiome in human attractiveness to mosquitoes. Alicia has used 16S sequencing, metabolomics and behavioural studies to investigate the skin microbiome and body odour profile of two cohorts of twins, in the UK and Gambia. Alicia is interested in opportunities to apply her expertise to develop innovative technologies to improve health in the future.

Manijeh has completed his first PhD in pharmaceutical biotechnology from Isfahan university of medical sciences and started her second PhD in Biochemistry at Universite de Sherbrooke. She works on the gut microbiome and its role in the gastrointestinal manifestations of Myotonic Dystrophy type 1 patients in both mice and human samples. Her H-index is 8 and has published about 24 papers in reputed journals.

Umar Khalid is currently a Ph.D. scholar with Seven years of experience at hand. Excellent clinical and quality control laboratory skills, with commended performance in conducting laboratory assays and resolving complex clinical and instrumental problems. Accurate, reliable, diligent and focused on the timely, quality completion of all lab procedures. Work well under pressure and time constraints within high-volume environments. Always seeking challenging opportunities to demonstrate my skills and abilities and attain experience and more and more knowledge.

 I am Fariha Altaaf young researcher in the field of Microbiology belongs to Pakistan. I have a passion and learn new expertise in evaluation in improving health and wellbeing. I am very passionate and hardworking to create new pathways for improving healthcare. I have done this research and built this model after years of experience in microbiology research, evaluation, teaching, and administration both from hospital and education institutions. The methodology in this research includes competitive ELISA that illustrates, seroprevalence and association of risk factors. It allows for value-pluralism. This research along with this methodology reveals the presence of BT virus that is transmitted from one region to another and still transmitting. I have done research in bacteriology section that was a project work on Streptococcus pneumoniae from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). I am very hard working and keen on my fieldwork. In my future, I would like to be work as Microbiologist definitely.

Andrea Borns, microbiologist and respiratory therapist who holds a Master’s of Public Health is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of ZEN Clinical & Bioscience. ZEN is a newly-formed consulting and laboratory client-driven research and development (R&D) company in the field of bacteriophage therapy and phage biotechnology to address emerging infectious and neglected tropical diseases. Originally from Brazil, Andrea started her career in Biomedical Sciences and was involved in HIV/AIDS research during the late ’90s in Rio de Janeiro. She is also a former Assistant Professor and Director of Clinical Education at the University of the District of Columbia, USA, where she worked closely with lung diseases, critical care, and mechanical ventilation before her comeback to the bench. Working on the bedside managing and treating cystic fibrosis and ventilator-associated pneumonia patients who lost their lives to superbugs, inspire her to leave Academia and the hospital environment to work in basic science. Andrea worked as a microbiologist at American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) and the Biodefense & Emerging Infection Resource (BEI), and as a research technician at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR). Passionate about basic science, Andrea is interested in bringing the knowledge of phage biology from the bench to the bedside so it can benefit patients.

Dr. Machunga-Mambula received her undergraduate degree in Microbiology from The Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria; Masters degree in Medical Microbiology from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and obtained her Ph.D. degree in Medical Microbiology from Manchester University, UK. She did her postdoctoral training at Boston University School of Medicine, USA in the Department of Infectious Diseases where she studied innate immune responses to fungal infections, with numerous scientific publications on Cryptococcus neoformans and Aspergillus fumigatus. Dr. M-Mambula became a faculty member at the Harvard Medical School in the Department of Radiation Oncology where she conducted numerous research projects on prostrate cancer and heat shock protein that resulted in several publications in international journals. It was during her period at the Harvard Medical School due to her interest in the control of infectious diseases in Nigeria that she developed the concept for the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and had it copyrighted at the Nigerian Copyright Commission.