NEW PHD FELLOWS JOIN CRYPTOT&T

Original text published on the University of Bergen (UiB) website

Portraits of fellows Photo: Private

Two new PhD fellows join the CryptoT&T project, bringing advanced expertise in diagnostic microbiology and epidemiology to strengthen clinical research on cryptosporidiosis.

Tewachew Awoke Dejenie is a medical microbiologist with robust experience in laboratory diagnostics, academic teaching, and infectious disease research. He holds an MSc in Medical Microbiology from Addis Ababa University and a BSc in Medical Laboratory Science from the University of Gondar, with over ten peer-reviewed publications and the honor of receiving the 2020 Tore Godal Prize.

His technical expertise includes intestinal parasite detection, fluorescence microscopy, DNA extraction, PCR, and gel electrophoresis, with deep experience working with clinical samples in low-resource settings. In addition, he has experience in mentoring students, peer-reviewing scientific manuscripts, and conducting statistical analyses.

He will contribute technical expertise in diagnostic microbiology and LED-based microscopy in the CryptoT&T clinical trial. His PhD tasks include the evaluation of acceptance of rectal swab sampling and their diagnostic accuracy in Cryptosporidiosis diagnosis, as well as genetic analysis of Cryptosporidium isolates.

Asnake Simieneh Tamru is a microbiologist and epidemiologist who previously worked as a lecturer and head of department at Wolkite University, Ethiopia.

Asnake received his master's degree in public health epidemiology from Mizan Tepi University in Ethiopia in 2025. Prior to that, he pursued a master's degree in medical microbiology from Jimma University in Ethiopia, graduating in 2020. He also earned his bachelor's degree in medical laboratory science from Hawassa University in Ethiopia, where he received a gold medal award in 2015.

Asnake has published on topics such as antimicrobial resistance, diarrheal diseases, tuberculosis, and non-communicable diseases. He has experience with large dataset analysis and expertise in molecular testing techniques, including GeneXpert, qPCR, DNA extraction, fluorescent microscopy, and point-of-care tests.

In CryptoT&T project, he will contribute to planning and supervision of the clinical trial with his technical expertise in diagnostic microbiology. His PhD tasks include the prevalence of cryptosporidiosis in Ethiopia, evaluation of the severity of co-infections with diarrheal pathogens and genetic analysis of Cryptosporidium isolates.