2025-2026 Cohort of Visiting Scholars
During his HGHI visiting scholarship, Dr. Bartholomew Ondigo is collaborating with Dr. Azza Idris to investigate how the immune system protects pregnant women from malaria, particularly at the placenta. Drawing on Dr. Ondigo’s unique cohort of pregnant women in western Kenya and his expertise in placental malaria and field immunology, together with Dr. Idris’s team’s advanced monoclonal antibody tools at the Ragon Institute, they are analyzing antibody responses to VAR2CSA—the key placental malaria antigen. Their goal is to identify antibodies that prevent infected red blood cells from binding in the placenta, define immune correlates of protection to guide next‑generation maternal vaccines and interventions, and adapt these laboratory methods so they can be implemented and sustained at Egerton University when Dr. Ondigo returns to Kenya.
Dr. Bartholomew Ondigo
Senior Lecturer and PI Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Egerton University | Kenya
Dr. Bartholomew N. Ondigo is a Senior Lecturer and Principal Investigator in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Egerton University, Kenya. Trained in biomedical sciences (BSc, MSc, PhD), he specializes in host–pathogen interactions, mechanisms of immunity, and global health. His research focuses on malaria, schistosomiasis, and other infectious diseases, with publications in journals and active collaborations in Kenya and internationally. Dr. Ondigo teaches and mentors undergraduate and postgraduate students.