Dr. Betouke Ongwe successfully defends her PhD exploring metabolic profiling following immunological perturbations
On 4 February 2025, Dr. Madeleine Eunice Betouke Ongwe successfully defended her PhD thesis at the University of Leiden entitled “Metabolic profiling following immunological perturbations: comparison across individuals from different geographical areas”.
Dr. Betouke Ongwe’s research examined metabolic responses to immunological challenges in populations with distinct geographical, microbial and parasitic exposures. Her research aimed to identify metabolic differences that influence immune responses to vaccines and infection in Sub-Saharan African and European individuals.
Dr. Betouke Ongwe used metabolomics to analyse metabolites in biological samples and related metabolic profiles to immune responses. Her work investigated baseline metabolic profiles and changes after vaccination with hookworm vaccine candidates and controlled human malaria infection.
Overall, the research work highlights the important interplay between metabolism and immune response as well as also illustrates how geographical location and microbial exposure shape immune responses.
Specifically, Dr Betouke Ongwe’s research thesis advances the field of immunometabolism by exploring how metabolic pathways influence immune function and demonstrates the importance of metabolic profiling in understanding population-specific immune signatures. The work was part of a collaboration between Centre de Recherches Médicales de Lambaréné (CERMEL) and Leiden University Medical Center under the supervision of Professor Maria Yazdanbakhsh, Dr Bart Everts, Dr Oleg Mayboroda and Professor Ayola Akim Adegnika.
Dr. Betouke Ongwe is now a postdoctoral researcher at CERMEL working in Gabon working in the MED4PRID group led by Professor Ghyslain Mombo-Ngoma. She concurrently has a position at Institut de Recherches en Ecologie Tropicale (IRET/CENAREST) also in Gabon. In the MED4PRID group, she is a principal study investigator and is in charge of coordinating research activities.
Congratulations Eunice!