Immunologist of the Month
Every month we feature a new interview with an Immunologist. These Immunologists are at the cutting-edge of research and education, they have kindly offered to give us their time and insight into their research and studies.
October 2025
Dr Bernard Kanoi is a biomedical scientist and the Eastern Africa Regional Representative for the Federation of Immunological Societies (FAIS). After being involved in malaria vaccine trials and several immunology-epidemiology studies in Northern Uganda, he completed his postdoctoral training in parasite immunology at Ehime University’s Graduate School of Science and Engineering in Japan.
Bernard leads cutting-edge research on malaria, tuberculosis, and COVID-19 at Mount Kenya University. His work spans high-throughput immuno-profiling, vaccine antigen discovery, and maternal immunity. His current research projects include understanding how immunity against malaria is acquired and functions in children and during pregnancy for universal vaccine antigen discovery.
Read more – Bernard Kanoi
September 2025
Dr Jennifer Rose Habel is a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Professor Kedzierska at the University of Melbourne. Dr Habel is emerging leader in the field of reproductive immunology, she has already published fifteen papers, received more than 680 citations, and earned seventeen awards and scholarships, including the CEIRR Fellowship, the QIAGEN PhD Achievement Award, and multiple international travel grants to present her work on the global stage.
Using advanced cellular and molecular tools such as single-cell RNA sequencing, Dr Habel is uncovering how pregnancy and early life shape antiviral immunity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she made a landmark discovery as the first to identify a SARS-CoV-2 CD8+ T cell epitope. She later revealed how immunity to SARS-CoV-2 is uniquely modulated during pregnancy.
Read more – Jennifer Rose Habel
August 2025
Dr. Dr. Roland Schelker is a physician-scientist whose career bridges patient care and cutting-edge immunotherapy. After earning his M.D. in 2009, he trained at the University Hospital Regensburg and later completed a prestigious DFG fellowship at the NIH, working with leaders in T cell biology.
Roland now heads the “T-Cell Fitness” group at the Leibniz Institute for Immunotherapy, where he investigates transcriptional co-regulators that enhance CD8⁺ T cell stemness and anti-tumour memory. Dr. Dr. Schelker translates molecular insights into clinical applications, including miRNA-based strategies for sarcoma.
Read more – Roland Schelker
