© 2015 Sarah E. Rich

Benjamin Kumwenda

RISE Degree(s) 

PhD in Bioinformatics from the University of Pretoria

RISE Network(s) 
SABINA
Nationality 
Malawian
Employment 

Lecturer, University of Malawi, College of Medicine

Previously: Postdoctoral Fellow in the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme

Research 

Microbial genomics, particularly human pathogens such as Salmonella; antimicrobial drug resistance

PhD: Comparative genomics study of completely sequenced Thermus sp. strains to enhance and facilitate their application in biotechnology for thermostable enzyme biosynthesis

News & Blogs 

African Scientists Win Grants to Create R&D Networks

Selected Publications 

Cornick JE, Bishop ÖT, Yalcin F, Kiran AM, Kumwenda B, et al. 2017. The global distribution and diversity of protein vaccine candidate antigens in the highly virulent Streptococcus pnuemoniae serotype 1. Vaccine 35(6):972–980

Kumwenda B, Litthauer D, Bishop OT, Reva O. "The role of genome rearrangements on adaptation of Thermus species in extreme temperature environments." BMC Genomics. 2014.

Kumwenda B, Jimmy-Gama D, Manyonga V, Semu-Kamwendo N, Nindi-Mtotha B, and Chirwa M. "Factors affecting data quality in the Malawian Health Management Information System." IASTED Conference Proceedings: Environment and Water Resource Management / 813: Modelling and Simulation / 814: Power and Energy Systems / 815: Health Informatics (AfricaEWRM 2014). September 1-3, 2014, Gaborone, Botswana.

Kumwenda B, Litthauer D, Reva O. 2014. Analysis of genomic rearrangements, horizontal gene transfer and role of plasmids in the evolution of industrial important Thermus species. BMC Genomics 15(1):813

Kumwenda B, Royan D, Ringsell P, Dowell J. 2014. Western medical students’ experiences on clinical electives in sub‐Saharan Africa. Med. Educ. 48(6):593–603

Kumwenda B, Litthauer D, Bishop ÖT, Reva O. 2013. Analysis of protein thermostability enhancing factors in industrially important Thermus bacteria species. Evol. Bioinforma. 9:327

Kumwenda B, Dowell J, Husbands A. 2013. Is embellishing UCAS personal statements accepted practice in applications to medicine and dentistry? Med. Teach. 35(7):599–603

Dowell J, Lynch B, Till H, Kumwenda B, Husbands A. "The multiple mini-interview in the U.K. context: 3 years of experience at Dundee." Medical Teacher. 2012;34(4):297-304. doi: 10.3109/0142159X.2012.652706.

Gounder K, Brzuszkiewicz E, Liesegang H, Wollherr A, Daniel R, Gottschalk G, Reva O, Kumwenda B, Srivastava M, Bricio C, Berenguer J, van Heerden E, Litthauer D. "Sequence of the hyperplastic genome of the naturally competent Thermus scotoductus SA-01." BMC Genomics. 2011 Nov 24;12:577. doi: 10.1186/1471-2164-12-577.

Dowell J, Lumsden MA, Powis D, Munro D, Bore M, Makubate B, Kumwenda B. "Predictive validity of the personal qualities assessment for selection of medical students in Scotland." Medical Teacher. 2011;33(9):e485-8. doi: 10.3109/0142159X.2011.599448.

Rauchas S, Sanders I, Kumwenda B. 2006. The effect of prior programming experience in a scheme-based breadth-first curriculum at Wits. ACM 38(3):326

Email Address(es) 
benjkum@gmail.com
RISE Degree(s) Completed 
April 2014