Mr Jacob Westaway
Bioinformatician
Qualifications:
PhD, James Cook University, 2022; Honours in Biomedical Science, Griffith University, 2013; Bachelor of Biomedical Science, Griffith University, 2012
Approved level of HDR supervision at Charles Darwin University:
Secondary supervisor for PhD
Location:
Darwin – Royal Darwin Hospital
Biography:
Jacob is a bioinformatician with experience using genomics and computational methods. For his PhD, Jacob used such methods to investigate the gut microbiome of preterm infants born in North Queensland, Australia, exploring its relationship to a host of clinical factors and the impact of early life probiotic prophylaxis.
At Menzies, Jacob is now using genomic and computational methods to investigate the population structure, transmission and epidemiology of several Plasmodium species, with a focus on the zoonotic Plasmodium knowlesi parasite.
Research Themes
- Parasite and human genetic risk factors for emerging Plasmodium knowlesi malaria.