Collaborations and networking have been all important for Dr James Njunge, who has spent 2024–25 as a Gonville & Caius College Bye-Fellow, on sabbatical from his Kenyan research institute.

James’ research focus is on the biological mechanisms underlying child mortality related to infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. He is a research fellow based at the KEMRI Wellcome Programme (http://kemri-wellcome.org/) in Kilifi, Kenya, which is by the Indian Ocean.

Focusing not on a single disease, but wide-ranging ones across sub-Saharan and south Asia, James has valued learning from others in similar research areas at the University of Cambridge.

“It’s been fascinating coming to work with people who have worked on diseases that we don't normally work on, to find out if the principles can be applied on the diseases that we normally encounter,” he says. “That was a huge motivation for me to apply and spend time away from my institution, and to get to learn what other people are doing.

“You get to see what synergies there can be, and eventually that might translate to applying for a joint grant or doing a joint project. That was a main aim.”

James’ research analyses how malnutrition, or poor nutrition, interacts with infection and how that alters metabolism and the increased risk for mortality. The World Health Organisation provides guidelines on antibiotics and F-75 or F-100 – highly calorific milk – to mitigate such issues, but James is exploring additional interventions.

He looks at how some children present with sepsis-like symptoms, which upon further investigation shows mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondria are a cell’s energy centre.

He also looks at whether inflammation – how the body responds to infections – persist after severe illness, and how it affects growth, following discharge from hospital. James adds: “Illness affects growth, and we want to see how long this persistent inflammation after they are discharged from hospital, impairs their growth.”

James’ is also exploring mothers’ nutrition, inflammation and environmental factors that affect children pre-birth and in early months of life.

His work in Cambridge has comprised mainly of two projects. One, with Wellcome-Sanger, is to characterise the gut’s microbiome, know which bacteria promote growth and which are pathogenic and impair growth. “The interest is not just to know what is there and what it is doing, the interest is identifying beneficial bacteria which can improve growth, or reduce hospitalisation,” he adds.

The second project is on lipidomics, with Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Lipids in blood can provide information about metabolism.

James has enjoyed being at Caius, meeting academics across a range of subjects, and medics and research scientists who work in similar areas. He has also benefitted from the network which can be established at Cambridge.

“I’ve been introduced to people I would never have met if I hadn’t been here physically,” he says.

“I'll have lots of lots of fond memories, but I want to keep the collaborations going.”