Who is Chengula

Augustino Alfred Chengula (PhD in Veterinary Sciences majoring in Virology) is a Lecturer of Virology at the Department of Microbiology, Parasitology, and Biotechnology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (CVMBS), Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in Tanzania. He holds BSc. in Veterinary Medicine, MSc. in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology both from SUA, and a PhD in Veterinary Sciences (Majoring in Virology) from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) in Norway. During his master’s studies, Augustino did research titled “Molecular Epidemiology of Rift Valley fever and its socio-economic impacts in selected areas of Tanzania” while during his PhD he did research titled “Tilapia Lake Virus (TiLV) – development of PCR-based diagnostic assays and insights into infection mechanisms“. Augustino is involved in teaching Virology to undergraduate and postgraduate students, doing research and carrying out consultancies in virology and other fields of veterinary medicine and allied sciences at SUA and as a part-time lecturer in other Universities. He also supervises undergraduate and postgraduate students at SUA and other Universities. He has broad interests and experiences in the field of Virology focusing on viral epidemics of human and animals in order to understand the molecular biological characteristics and virus-host interactions (ecology of viruses) which will lead to the development of new affordable diagnostic tools, vaccines and antivirals against viral diseases. He is also interested in the application of Phage Technology (Phage Tech) for controlling antibiotic resistant pathogenic strains of bacteria in humans, animals and environment. Currently, he is involved in several projects as shown in the research section. Augustino authors a number of articles, published in refereed international journals and as chapters in international peer-review books as shown in the publication section. Finally, Augustino, with excellent command of both English and Kiswahili languages is open to collaboration with anyone who has an interest in doing research in the field of virology and other areas of veterinary, human and wildlife health.