Academic Profile: B.Sc. Agricultural Biotechnology, University for Development Studies, Ghana; M.Sc. Microbiology and Molecular Biology (Microbial Ecology & Taxonomy), Hiroshima University, Japan; Ph.D. Bioresource Science (Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry), Hiroshima University, Japan.

Brief Research Concept: The use of antimicrobials to control infectious pathogenic diseases especially in food-animal production was deemed environmentally unfriendly because antibiotic residues in our environments eliminate microbial agents of importance to several ecosystem services, favor the development of antimicrobial resistance, and residues in food-animal tissues pose considerable consumer healthcare challenges. Hence, more innovative and scientific research is needed as antimicrobial alternatives for use in the food-animal production sector to ensure consumer, animal, and environmental safety. Phytochemicals and bacteriophages do well as ideal antibiotic alternatives, nevertheless, bacteria can develop resistance through spontaneous mutations, restriction-modification, and adaptive immunity. However, extracellular proteins secreted by microbial pathogens can be employed as immunogens to enhance host immunity. In perspective, host immunomodulation will yield superior and effective results compared to phytochemicals and bacteriophages and equally foster good environmental, animal, and consumer welfare. Thus, my current research focus is to develop a series of immunogens using extracellular proteins of economically relevant pathogens, to evaluate the immunomodulatory efficacy of such immunogens, to understand the immunological mechanism underpinning the immunomodulatory potential of the immunogen using in vitro and in vivo antimicrobial activity techniques, and to produce such immunogens in an in vitro environment.