Funded Lab Placements

VALIDATE Lab Placement Grants are competitively awarded to give Associate Network Members from LMICs the opportunity to participate in a laboratory exchange visit to a selection of host institutes.

Find out more about our VALIDATE Lab Placement awardees below.

Round 1 - 2025

Dr Jonathan Adjei - Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana

Host Laboratory: Host-Pathogen Mycobactomics, Stellenbosch University, South Africa 

Project: Assessing the protective capacity of PPE_MPTR peptides of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in an in vitro model

Dr Endalew Yizengaw - Bahir dar University, Ethiopia 

Host Laboratory: CIDEIM, Colombia 

Project: 3D cell culture systems to model persistent subclinical Leishmania infection 
 

Dr Vanessa Mwebaza Muwanga - University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa

Host Laboratory: Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, South Africa

Project: mRNA platform and product development for neglected infectious diseases 
 

Dr Happy Tshivhula - Stellenbosch University, South Africa 

Host Laboratory: McShane Lab, Oxford University, UK 

Project: Processing TB clinical trial samples