Biography
I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture (Crop Science) form Kenyatta University (Kenya). For my final-year’s research, undertaken at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe, Nairobi), I worked on pollination efficiency of indigenous African stingless bees. This placement was the genesis on my interest in research which later became focused on plant pathology, specifically in understanding the molecular and evolutionary mechanisms underlying the relationships between plants and their pathogens. Subsequently, I joined Ghent University (Belgium) for a Master's in Nematology. For my master's thesis research, I went to the Institut Sophia Agrobiotech (Sophia Antipolis, France), where I worked on functional characterization of root-knot nematodes’ effectors.
For my PhD now, I have joined the Derevnina’s and Eves-van den Akker’s groups to work on defining and functionally characterizing the “core” effectorome or root-knot nematodes, by focusing on four of the most important, but also genetically diverse species of the Meloidogyne genus.
Qualifications
2023 MSc Nematology, Ghent University, Belgium
2019 BSc Agriculture Science (Crop Science), Kenyatta University, Kenya
Key Publications
Websites
Awards
2023 Cambridge Africa Changemakers Scholarship for a PhD in Plant Sciences
2023 Erasmus+ Studentship mobility grant
2021 VLIR-UOS Scholarship for the Master of Nematology at Ghent University
2020 Kariuki-VLIR-UOS travel award to attend the Basic Crash Course Nematology at IITA/icipe, Nairobi from 14-18 December 2020.
Committees
2024 Organising Committee for the Norwich-Cambridge Student Symposium (NoCaSS)
