The Word Café Podcast with Amax

S1 Ep. 94 The Biology Princess

September 28, 2022 Amachree Isoboye Afanyaa Season 1 Episode 94
The Word Café Podcast with Amax
S1 Ep. 94 The Biology Princess
The Word Café Podcast with Amax +
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There is something beautiful about intelligence; it reveals how much we can become when we put ourselves to the task of searching and asking the right question.

I am always fascinated by knowledge because our becoming, being, and living all rise and fall on the back of what we know. 

All of these begin with our intellect, the sum of our cognitive facilities, and the capacity for reasoning. This is where light comes to our mind, we develop, and our external world becomes a recipient of our realities.
On this episode of the Word Café Podcast, I am honored to have someone who has embraced her intelligence as a gift and built a future.  Her name is Dr Nwamaka Akpodiete

Dr. Nwamaka Akpodiete is a post-doctoral research associate in vector biology with Target malaria, based at Keele University, United Kingdom. She conducts molecular ecological studies to understand the population dynamics and ecology of the African malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae. Additionally, she provides support and training in molecular ecology, ecological statistics, and scientific writing at African partner institutions. Nwamaka has a 12-year of work experience in Higher Education involving teaching, mentoring, laboratory and field research, project supervision, and related administrative roles. 

 
 Nwamaka has a broad-based undergraduate and postgraduate education and research training in biology, biochemistry, molecular biology techniques, next-generation sequencing, entomology, zoology, and environmental sciences. Her BSc (Animal and Environmental Biology) research project was on the ecological dynamics of soil microarthropods about hydrocarbon pollution. She identified some bioindicators of soil pollution and microarthropod species indicative of soil recovery. This interest in environmental health led to an MSc in Environmental Quality Management. Nwamaka's MSc project was on the dipteran larvae in polluted water bodies in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. The project linked disease vectors such as Anopheles gambiae s.l. and Culex quinquefasciatus to indiscriminate waste disposal in Port Harcourt City, Nigeria. She also holds an MSc in Entomology and Pest Management from the University of Port Harcourt.
 
 Her research interest in public and environmental health culminated in a Ph.D. in Entomology at Keele University, United Kingdom. Her Ph.D. research was focused on the evolutionary larval divergence in Anopheles gambiae s.l. About rice field domestication in Africa and improvement of An. gambiae s.l. Mass-rearing protocols for release. She also evaluated the use of zeolite in mosquito rearing and the characterization of microbial communities in the insectary via 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The study revealed ecological consequences of environmental manipulation, which has resulted in the speciation event in the malaria vector An. coluzzii, resulting in the year-round transmission of malaria and increased urban malaria. 

The findings from her Ph.D. research are relevant for malaria vector control, irrigated agricultural and urbanization policy reevaluation, and improvement of sterile insect techniques and gene drive protocols.

 
 Nwamaka is actively involved in malaria campaigns@Zeromalaria to eradicate malaria in Africa.

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(Cont.) S1 Ep. 94 The Biology Princess