Post-Doctoral Associates
Tshegofatso 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.
Taeyong 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
Eunice 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.
Gagandeep 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
Sara 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