Championing Women Researchers
Dr. Jacqueline (Koko) Mutai
Dr. Jacqueline (Koko) Mutai is from the Oregon Health and Science University, Oregon, United States.
research background
I have a PhD from the Open University (United Kingdom) and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Egerton University (Kenya). I am a postdoctoral fellow at OHSU’s Wilder lab, specializing in understanding the mechanism of action of intracellular-acting antibodies in reducing liver parasite burden. My background is in bioinformatics and immunology. I am interested in translational immunology which constitutes vaccine and therapeutics research and development. My research focus is to combine wet laboratory assays and genomics to identify new vaccine targets, immune correlates of protection, and unraveling mechanisms underlying antibody-dependent protection. I am passionate about public engagement. I have participated in the “I am a scientist, get me out of here” project in Kenya to engage high school students, where I won an award. I have also participated in a drama entitled: “Defeat the Helix” to engage high school students and get them excited about science in the UK.
Current research activities
The liver stage is the most crucial part of the malaria lifecycle that can be targeted to prevent the development of blood-stage infections. Understanding the relationship between epitope binding and function is critical for developing monoclonal antibodies or vaccines targeting intracellularly expressed proteins. I am employing mouse models to understand the mechanism of action of monoclonal antibodies against proteins during the malaria liver stage. This involves multiple techniques: delayed passive transfer and qRT PCR quantification of liver parasite burden; in vitro binding assays to determine whether our monoclonal antibodies can disrupt this interaction; biolayer interferometry to determine the binding of monoclonal antibodies to either whole intracellular protein or fragments.
Future research activities
Once we understand the mechanism of action of monoclonal antibodies and identify their key targets, we can design vaccines with these antigenic targets. Antigenic targets of monoclonal antibodies contain epitopes that can be included in vaccine design and are often the primary targets of protective immunity. After vaccine design and development, we can utilize animal models of malaria to evaluate our vaccine’s efficacy, biodistribution and safety. We can also study the induction of T and B cells which provide a comprehensive immune response involving antibody production and cellular immunity. We can employ further studies on T cells and antibodies to understand their function, including cytotoxicity for CD8 T cells, helper function for CD4 T cells, and neutralization, opsonization, and complement fixation for antibodies. Following the success of our vaccine in animal models, we can rapidly translate their use into clinical trials.