Chrispin Chaguza, Ph.D., M.S.
Postdoctoral Associate | Yale School of Public Health | Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
Laboratory of Epidemiology of Public Health (LEPH) | 60 College St. | New Haven, CT 06510
Email: [email protected] | Faculty Profile | Twitter | Google Scholar
BS in Computer Science and Statistics – The University of Malawi
MS in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology – The University of Manchester
PhD in Infection and Immunity – The University of Liverpool
Postdoc in Pathogen Genomics and Bioinformatics – Wellcome Sanger Institute and University of Cambridge
My research focuses on understanding the epidemiology and evolution of microbial pathogens (bacteria and viruses) to inform disease prevention and control strategies.
Following my undergraduate studies in Computer Science and Statistics at the University of Malawi, I joined the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme (MLW), a Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Research Programme, as a Bioinformatics Intern. Soon after, I was awarded a scholarship to pursue a Master of Science in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology at the University of Manchester in the U.K. At the end of my studies, I undertook a summer placement in the laboratory of Professor Stephen Bentley at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge to complete my thesis on the phylogeography and recombination of type 1 pneumococcal strains. My postgraduate studies and summer placement gave me a glimpse of how Bioinformatics and Computational Biology can be used to study microbial pathogens. To gain further experience in bioinformatics, I returned to the MLW after my studies to work on the Pneumococcal African Genomics (PAGe) Consortium as a Research Assistant (Bioinformatician). In this role, I contributed to genomic and statistical analysis of bacterial sequencing data from Africa and globally in collaboration with the Wellcome Sanger Institute and other institutions. After being awarded the Commonwealth Scholarship, I returned to the U.K. to pursue a Ph.D. in Infection and Immunity at the Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool. My Ph.D. focused on the population genomics of pneumococcal strains from Africa. During my Ph.D., I undertook research visits to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Bill Hanage’s lab) and Wellcome Sanger Institute (Stephen Bentley’s lab). Upon completing my studies, I joined the Bentley lab at the Wellcome Sanger Institute as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to continue my research in bacterial genomics and epidemiology, focusing on the evolution, antimicrobial resistance, and genome-wide associations studies of the pneumococcus. Shortly afterward, I became a Darwin College Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool. I’m currently an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University College London and the University of Liverpool and a Visiting Scientist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, collaborating with several research groups on the genomics and epidemiology of bacterial and viral pathogens.
In the Grubaugh lab at the Yale School of Public Health, I’m working on multidisciplinary projects primarily focusing on genomic epidemiology and evolution of SARS-CoV-2, dengue, West Nile, and other viruses.