Post-Doctoral Associates

Headshot of Tshegofatso BruckenTshegofatso Brucken

Degree and School:
Ph.D. (Biology), Kansas State University (USA)
B.Sc. (Biological Sciences), University of Botswana (Botswana)

Research Field:
Microbiology, Immunology.

Mentors:
Dr. Pankaj Baral

Hometown:
Gaborone, Botswana

Research Project:
Understanding the role of neurons and immune cells in lung inflammation and host defense.

Headshot of Taeyong KwonTaeyong Kwon

Degree:
DVM (2012), Konkuk University, South Korea
MS (2018), Konkuk University, South Korea
PhD (2025), Kansas State University

Research Field:
Emerging zoonotic diseases and transboundary animal diseases

Mentors:
Dr. Jürgen A. Richt

Hometown:
South Korea

Research projects:
Influenza virus

Headshot of Eunice MachukaEunice Machuka

Degree and School:
Ph.D. (Molecular Biology & Biotechnology), Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture & Technology (Kenya)
M.Sc. (Biotechnology), Kenyatta University (Kenya)
B.Sc. (Biochemistry), Kenyatta University (Kenya)

Research Field:
Molecular Biology, Genomics, Host-Pathogen Interaction, Biotechnology, Vector Biology, Transcriptomics and Diagnostics.

Mentor:
Dr. Jayme Souza-Neto

Hometown:
Ngong and Nairobi, Kenya

Research Project:
Molecular and genomic insights into mosquito-arbovirus interactions to enhance vector control and disease surveillance.

Headshot of Gagandeep SinghGagandeep Singh

Degree and School:
Post-doctoral Fellow (Immunology/Infectious diseases), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (USA)
Ph.D. (Molecular Pathogenesis/Veterinary Virology), North Dakota State University (USA)
M.Sc. (Animal Biotechnology/Veterinary Microbiology), Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (India)
B.Sc. (Biotechnology), Punjab Technical University (India)

Research Field:
Immunology, Molecular Pathogenesis, Vaccine and Adjuvant Development

Mentors:
Dr. Jurgen Richt

Hometown:
Chandigarh, India

Research Project:
Immunology and pathogenesis of zoonotic diseases (Influenza A viruses, SARS-CoV-2, MPox)
Development and characterization of pre-clinical models for zoonotic diseases

Headshot of Sara VirdisSara Virdis

Degree and school:

Post-doctoral Fellow (Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology), Kansas State University (USA) (current)
PhD (Animal Science), University of Bologna (Italy)
M.Sc. (Safety and Quality of Animal Production), University of Bologna (Italy)
B.Sc. (Agricultural and Animal Science), University of Sassari (Italy)

Research and field:
Applied swine nutrition

Mentors:
KSU Applied Swine Nutrition team, Dr Jordan T. Gebhardt

Hometown:
San Sperate, Sardinia, Italy

Research project:

  • Nutritional and management strategies to control enteric health challenges in nursery pigs
  • Applied swine nutrition