Curriculum Vitae

Clabe Wekesa, PhD

Bioinformatician · Molecular Biologist · Computational Biology · Microbial Genomics

Molecular biologist and computational scientist combining experimental biology, high-throughput sequencing, bioinformatics, multi-omics integration, scientific software development, and reproducible computational research.

CW
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Professional Profile

Computational biologist and molecular microbiologist with experience in bioinformatics, transcriptomics, genomics, metagenomics, multi-omics data integration, and reproducible computational workflow development. Experienced in analysing large-scale sequencing datasets and integrating transcriptomic, metabolomic, microbiome, phenotypic, and environmental data to investigate complex biological processes. Strong programming and data-analysis experience in Python and R, together with Linux, shell scripting, high-performance computing, and scientific software development.

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Research & Professional Experience

Postdoctoral Researcher

2023–2025
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology · Jena, Germany
  • Developed and implemented computational workflows for transcriptomic, metagenomic, metabolomic, and integrative biological data analyses.
  • Analysed RNA-seq datasets and performed differential gene-expression and functional analyses using R- and Linux-based workflows.
  • Integrated transcriptomic, metabolomic, microbiome, phenotypic, and environmental datasets to investigate biological responses across multiple molecular and organismal levels.
  • Developed reproducible Python, R, and Bash workflows for processing, analysing, and visualising large biological datasets.
  • Managed large sequencing datasets and computational analyses in high-performance computing environments.
  • Applied statistical and machine-learning approaches to identify biologically meaningful patterns within complex datasets.
  • Worked closely with experimental scientists to connect computational results with biological hypotheses and observations.
  • Coordinated collaborative research activities between scientists in Germany and Norway.
  • Contributed to manuscripts, project reports, scientific presentations, collaborative proposals, and student supervision.

Lecturer & Researcher

Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) · Kenya
  • Conducted research in molecular biology, microbiology, genomics, biotechnology, and bioinformatics.
  • Taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in molecular biology, microbiology, biotechnology, and bioinformatics.
  • Supervised undergraduate, MSc, and PhD research projects.
  • Guided students in experimental design, biological data analysis, interpretation, and scientific writing.
  • Coordinated student research activities and contributed to departmental and collaborative research projects.
  • Contributed to research proposal development and organised workshops, seminars, and practical bioinformatics training.
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Education

PhD in Molecular Biology / Microbiology
Friedrich Schiller University Jena · Germany
Research focused on plant–microbe interactions, microbial molecular biology, genomics, transcriptomics, stress responses, and biological nitrogen fixation.
MSc in Biotechnology
Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology · Kenya
BSc in Biochemistry
Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology · Kenya
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Selected Research & Software Projects

Multi-omics Integration

Integrated transcriptomic, metabolomic, microbiome, phenotypic, and environmental datasets to investigate plant defence responses across ecological conditions.

Comparative & Evolutionary Genomics

Performed large-scale comparative genomic and phylogenomic analyses of bacterial regulatory and symbiosis-associated genes, incorporating sequence processing, alignment, phylogenetic inference, annotation, and comparative analysis.

Metagenomics & Microbiome Analysis

Developed and applied workflows for sequence preprocessing, assembly, taxonomic classification, functional annotation, comparative analysis, and biological interpretation of complex microbial communities.

Reproducible Computational Biology

Developed Python-, R-, Bash-, and Linux-based workflows for biological sequence analysis, quantitative processing, statistical evaluation, visualisation, and reproducible research.

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Technical Expertise

Computational Biology

RNA-seq Transcriptomics Genomics Metagenomics Comparative Genomics Functional Genomics Multi-omics Integration Differential Expression Genome Annotation Phylogenomics

Programming, Statistics & Computing

Python R Bash pandas NumPy scikit-learn Statistical Modelling Machine Learning Data Visualization Linux HPC — SGE/Slurm Git/GitHub Conda Docker

Bioinformatics Tools

DESeq2 edgeR featureCounts Salmon Kallisto HISAT2 Bowtie2 Trinity SPAdes Kraken2 / Bracken BLAST / DIAMOND MAFFT IQ-TREE Prokka Panaroo
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Scientific Software Development

BOTAS

Computational framework for reproducible bacterial RNA-seq analysis, including alignment, gene quantification, and operon analysis.

MLDockKit

Machine-learning-assisted computational toolkit for molecular docking and biological data analysis.

Scientific Utilities

Development of additional Python-based utilities for biological sequence analysis, quantitative data processing, visualization, and reproducible research workflows.

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Research Coordination, Supervision & Communication

  • Coordinated research implementation and communication between collaborating scientists in Germany and Norway.
  • Supervised and supported undergraduate, MSc, and PhD research activities.
  • Contributed to collaborative research proposals involving international partners.
  • Organised scientific workshops, seminars, and bioinformatics training activities.
  • Experienced in scientific manuscript preparation, technical documentation, research presentations, and interdisciplinary scientific communication.
  • Presented and communicated research findings to multidisciplinary and international audiences.
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Certification & Professional Development

Google Project Management Professional Certificate

Google / Coursera

Additional professional development in bioinformatics, data science, artificial intelligence, and scientific computing.

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Scientific Interests

Computational Biology Gene Regulation Single-cell Genomics Multi-omics Integration Regulatory Networks Transcriptomics Functional Genomics Systems Biology Reproducible Bioinformatics

My scientific interests centre on computational approaches for understanding how molecular and regulatory changes give rise to complex biological phenotypes. I am particularly interested in integrating multiple molecular layers to identify regulatory relationships that cannot be resolved from individual datasets alone, and in extending transcriptomic and multi-omics approaches toward single-cell transcriptomics, chromatin-accessibility data, and gene regulatory network reconstruction.

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Academic Profiles