Education

BSc Biotechnology, Kenyatta University, 2010
MSc Infectious Diseases, Kenyatta University, 2013
PhD Clinical Science and Immunology, University of Cape Town, 2017

Bio

Donald Nyangahu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and a resident faculty member at the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine. He completed his PhD in Clinical Science and Immunology from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, where he studied the impact of maternal gut microbiota on offspring microbiota and immunity. He conducted his postdoctoral research at Seattle Children’s Research Institute investigating the influence of early-life gut microbiota on infants’ vaccine responses. His lab studies the gut bacteriome, virome, and vaccine responses in infants exposed to HIV but uninfected and uses animal models to gain mechanistic insights into clinical outcomes in these infants.

Research Focus

Gut microbiome or virome in infants, vaccine response.

Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, RWJMS

Nyangahu D, Happel A-U, Wendoh J, et al. Bifidobacterium infantis associates with T cell immunity in human infants and is sufficient to enhance antigen-specific T cells in mice. Science advances. 2023;9(49):eade1370. doi:10.1126/sciadv.ade1370.
Nyangahu D, Jaspan H. Influence of maternal microbiota during pregnancy on infant immunity. Clinical and experimental immunology. 2019;198(1):47-56. doi:10.1111/cei.13331.
Nyangahu D, Lennard K, Brown B, et al. Disruption of maternal gut microbiota during gestation alters offspring microbiota and immunity. Microbiome. 2018;6(1):124. doi:10.1186/s40168-018-0511-7.