KEMRI - Kenya Medical Research Institute
The Centre for Microbiology Research (CMR)
is one of the oldest research centres of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). CMR has many laboratories spread in four sub-centres located in Nairobi (Mbagathi and Kenyatta National Hospital complex), Kisumu and the coastal town of Kwale.
The centre has a total of 37 scientific and 13 support staff. In addition, the centre hosts the Nairobi centre for the Nagasaki University Institute of Tropical Medicine (NUITM), and the Research Care and Training Program (RCTP). Our staff is well trained and continuous education is highly emphasized. Our centre collaborates with many research institutes locally and internationally and this helps to expand our research capabilities. CMR houses the regional laboratory of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) testing and Surveillance (the enteric pathogens research unit) and hosts the local chapter of Association for Prudent use of Antimicrobials (APUA). We also have a Mycology lab that carries research on fungal and opportunistic infections. Our research unit at the KEMRI headquarters is involved in travel medicine through research of travellers’ diarrhoea. We are also mandated to conduct research on helminthic infections and we have conducted studies on lymphatic filariasis in the coastal region of Kenya. CMR is also a member of the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis.
Dr. Cecilia Mbae
is a Principal Research Scientist in KEMRI, and heads the Centre for Microbiology Research. Over the past 18 years, she has focused her research on epidemiologic characterization of parasitic and bacterial enteric infections outbreak, utilizing basic and molecular based methods to better understand ecology, transmission pathways and antimicrobial resistance of parasitic and bacterial pathogens. Some of the major pathogens of public health significance include Cryptosporidium spp, Giardia spp, Echinococcus spp, Salmonella typhi, invasive non-typhoidal salmonella, Vibrio cholera, E. coli among others that are endemic in their settings. All the studies have involved working closely with the communities, healthcare facilities for participant recruitment, and laboratory processes, and have been done through international collaborations. Most of her studies have made an impact in communities through feedback and dissemination meetings at community level and offering community based interventions. Her data has contributed to policy change in control, treatment and management of food and water borne infections as well as neglected infections. She has the experience, expertise, leadership, training, and motivation necessary to successfully implement the proposed AMERIOLATE grant. She is mentoring several undergraduate, post graduate students and junior scientists, and supervised/trained more than 10 Msc and 3 PhD students. She has authored/ co-authored more than 40 manuscripts in peer reviewed journals. She is a faculty member at the KEMRI Graduate School. She has participated in several regional and international conferences to disseminate research findings.
She will be participating in the human aspect of research, which involves pathogen identification and AMR analysis and co-supervising MSc and PhD students.