Dr Caroline Cleopatra Chisenga
International Fellow at the Sanger Institute and an Early Career Development fellow at EDCTP (European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership), Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia Limited (CIDRZ), Zambia
As a postdoctoral fellow, Caroline was instrumental in the setting up multiplex, PCR-based Luminex x-TAG® gastrointestinal pathogen panels, cholera vibriocidal assays and B-cell ELISPOT assays in Zambia and the region. Among her most recent research findings has been the demonstration of strong correlation of cholera specific antibodies in saliva when compared to serum. Furthermore, her work has identified at a granular level which specific cholera antibodies strongly correlate with serum in acute patients using the Systems Serology Approach established at the Ragon Institute. Caroline’s strong passion for contributing to cholera elimination program is now extending to understanding poor antibody immune response in the context of Vibrio cholerae genomic data. In addition, she continues to serve as PI on several studies in enteric diseases and supports the national strategy for cholera elimination as a technical advisor.
Collaborative Projects
As part of her European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) Career Development Fellowship, and in collaboration with local public health officials and researchers, Caroline led a study to characterise the cholera-specific antibody status of at-risk populations in Zambia before and after receiving two doses of oral cholera vaccine (OCV), developing non-invasive proxy measures of OCV immune responses, and assessing the impact of blood groups on antibody generation.
She also led the first multi-country injectable clinical trial for rotavirus vaccine as site-PI (in
collaboration with the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, PATH) for which over 7000 infants were enrolled. Furthermore, she led a multi-country study funded by Wellcome as site-PI (in collaboration with researchers in the Netherlands) investigating community antibiotic usage.
Caroline has also supported the HIV peptide study in collaboration with African Research Institute in Durban as well as the Enterotoxigenic vaccine trial with Scandinavian Biopharma.
Personal Bio
Caroline is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Zambia (CIDRZ), working as Head of the Enteric Disease and Vaccine Research Unit. She obtained an MSc in Biomedical Sciences at Ulster University, Northern Ireland and a PhD degree in Immunology from the University of Zambia. She completed her PhD in Cellular Immunology in 2015, which was also awarded by the University of Zambia. During her PhD work, she was able to demonstrate that among malnourished HIV infected adults initiating ART there was poor immune response particularly in those with high circulating CD4/CD8 senescent cells.
Due to her interest in research, she was assigned to investigate the immunology around cholera vaccines, particularly the inactivated Shanchol OCV introduced to Zambia in 2016.
In 2018 she obtained an EDCTP (European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership) Career Development Fellowship. Using this grant, and other support, Caroline has been able to report on the (i) Vaccine immunogenicity, (ii) Influence of the ABO blood type on oral cholera vaccine immunogenicity and (iii) the impact of HIV on oral cholera vaccine immunogenicity and (iv) potential use of saliva as an alternative sample
during cholera surveillance studies in peer reviewed journals.
An emerging leader in immunology research in Zambia, Caroline also provides support to PhD and MSc students within her research unit and at Levy Mwanawasa Medical University.