Fourth Meeting of the DS-I Africa Consortium
16 - 22 November 2024

Mrs Chisom Soremekun - Travel Awardee

BCX-Africa: Utilizing data science to evaluate the applicability of blood cell traits polygenic risk scores for disease prediction in Africa (PhD trainee)

Chisom Soremekun is a Bioinformatics student at Makerere University Uganda. She is investigating the genetics of type-2 diabetes mellitus in individuals of African ancestry. Her multifaceted approach incorporates statistical methodologies, including Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS), Polygenic Risk Score (PRS) analysis, Mendelian Randomization (MR), and innovative computational drug target exploration. Leveraging on the rich genomic dataset including participants from Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Malawi, and Uganda, she hopes to identify genetic variants associated with type-2 diabetes mellitus. She is also evaluating the cumulative effect of these genetic markers to predict an individual's susceptibility to diabetes. Chisom aims to unravel the complex genetic factors contributing to type-2 diabetes mellitus susceptibility and pave the way for precision medicine interventions tailored to diverse populations.