Moses Egesa

I work on a collaborative project between the University of York Dept of Biology (Dr. James Hewitson) and the MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit (Prof. Alison Elliott) to uncover in vivo anti-schistosome immune responses in endemic populations using a humanized mouse model and also to explore how schistosome infection changes the function of the bone marrow where cells originate.

My Ph.D. at Makerere University in collaboration with Leiden University Medical Center focused on preclinical testing of schistosome vaccines particularly the skin-stage vaccine antigens of Schistosoma mansoni. The main findings are published in the Parasite Immunology Journal (https://doi.org/10.1111/pim.12591 and https://doi.org/10.1111/pim.12592). This work benefits vaccine researchers particularly regarding the selection of vaccine antigens to develop further. 

I am also a Scientific Officer at Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) on a study to prepare for a controlled human infection (CHI) study for schistosomiasis and how this could be implemented to test vaccine candidates in schistosomiasis endemic Uganda. Beyond schistosomiasis, I have also contributed to projects on other infectious diseases including Tuberculosis, Marburg and Ebola at the UVRI.