An African-Based Immunology Seminar Series

Assoc. Prof Mohlopheni Jackson Marakalala [Africa Health Research (ARI) & University College London]

Assoc.Prof Mohlopheni Jackson Marakalala is a faculty member and Wellcome Trust intermediate fellow at AHRI, an Associate Professor at University College London’s Division of Infection and Immunity, Honorary Research Associate at the University of Cape Town (UCT), Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal  and visiting scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Dept.of Immunology and Infectious Diseases.

Mohlopheni received his PhD in Chemical Pathology at UCT in 2008, followed by a Postdoctoral Fellowship in innate immunity at UCT’s Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine. He joined Harvard in 2012 for a four-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in immunology and infectious diseases. In 2016 he rejoined UCT as a Senior Lecturer until his current appointment at AHRI and UCL.

Dr Mohlopheni Marakalala’s group’s core interest is in developing TB biomarkers and host-directed therapies by studying factors associated with disease progression using lung tissue and blood samples from TB patients. He is also interested in cell death modalities in the mononuclear phagocyte system and their role in TB immunopathogenesis. The group’s other focus is on understanding strategies utilized by Mtb to subvert the host immune system.