Third Meeting of the DS-I Africa Consortium
3 November - 9 November 2023

Ms Faridah Nassolo - Speaker

Makerere University Data Science Research Training to Strengthen Evidence-Based Health Innovation, Intervention and Policy (MakDARTA) (MSc trainee)

Faridah Nassolo is a laboratory technologist at the molecular virology facility at Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MRC/UVRI LSHTM) Uganda Research Unit. My academic background is in molecular biology. I hold a Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology from Bangalore university in India. My research at the institute encompasses genotyping of HIV-1 drug resistant viruses and basic sequence data analysis. I am also a Master's in Bioinformatics fellow with the Makerere University Data Science Research Training to Strengthen Evidence-Based Health Innovation, Intervention and Policy (MakDARTA) programme at Makerere University. My research project focuses on developing a model to understand current and forecast the future HIV-1 epidemic in a Ugandan population using HIV sequences deposited in databases like Los Alamos. I intend to characterize the frequency of substitution mutations in the HIV-1 gag gene based on the most prevalent subtypes in Uganda; A1 and D and thereafter develop a mathematical model to predict future patterns. At the institute, I am involved in HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) work where I undertake sequencing to support resistance activities such as the WHO HIVDR surveillance protocols, the National treatment programmes with the Uganda Ministry of health in surveys on patients who are initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) and those failing therapy after several years.
My other research interests include utilizing data science approaches such as machine learning algorithms to make insights from data. Through the master's programme, I have also attained a hands-on experience in the use of programming languages like R and Python for big data analyses.