Dr Liliane Mukaremera was born and raised in Rwanda and completed her undergraduate studies at the National University of Rwanda in Biology. She worked in the same university for one year as a teaching assistant before securing a scholarship that allowed her to continue her studies into a Master's and PhD programme at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland (United Kingdom). She then continued her training as postdoctoral researcher at the University of Minnesota in the United States where she investigated the role of titan cells during Cryptococcus neoformans infection. During her postdoctoral period she was awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Global Health Fogarty Fellowship that allowed her to spend 11 months in Kampala (Uganda) working alongside clinicians investigating patients suffering from Cryptococcus meningitis. Currently she is a lecturer at the University of Exeter in England where she combine teaching and research.
Dr Mukaremera's research focuses on understanding morphological factors, specifically cell wall modifications, which influence the pathogenesis of the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans and disease outcome. The cell wall is a unique structure to fungi (absent in mammals), and therefore is a great target choice for the development of new antifungal drugs. At present, there are no drug treatments for Cryptococcus infection that target the cell wall. They are currently working on characterising Cryptococcus neoformans cell wall as a potential antifungal drug target.
As an African scientist, Dr Mukaremera is also interested in establishing collaborative networks in Africa and mentoring future generations of African microbiologists.
