Research Interests: My current research efforts are directed towards (re-)emerging infectious arboviruses of global public health and veterinary importance, improving mosquito-borne arbovirus surveillance to predict/ prevent and control future disease outbreaks. To this end, I am now collaborating with researchers from University of Bonn, Germany; Institute of Virology, CHARITÉ – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany; College of Veterinary Medicine & Biosecurity, Makerere University, and the Division of Arbovirology, (Re-) Emerging Infectious Diseases Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), Entebbe. We have established a long-term collaboration on capacity building for mosquito vectors and mosquito-borne arbovirus research and surveillance using an integrated system of approaches to address a wide range of questions, ranging from early detection and characterization, field ecology, evolutionary genetics and genomics of the mosquito vector and arboviruses circulating in them, to evaluation of the vector-human/vertebrate-virus interface, and the anthropogenic drivers of the (re-)emergence and establishment of arbovirus disease outbreaks in the East African region and beyond.
An evolutionary biologist interested in using molecular genetics tools to study human and wildlife populations, and disease ecology dynamics of emerging and re-emerging infectious arboviruses, and their vectors.
08/2014-present Lecturer, Department of Plant Sciences, Microbiology and Biotechnology, School of Biosciences, College of Natural Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
08/2013 – 07/2014 Lecturer, Department of Biological Sciences, Busitema University, Uganda
08/2011 – 06/2012 Part-time lecturer, Department of Biological Sciences, Kyambogo University, Uganda
08/2008 – 06/2011 Visiting lecturer, Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, Makerere University.
11/2006 – 06/2011 Post-doctoral Fellow, Genetics Division at Institute of Conservation Research, San Diego Zoo Global, San Diego, California, USA. (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Oliver Ryder).
09/2005 -10/2006 Post-doctoral Fellow/ Visiting Scholar, Department of Biological Sciences, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA. (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Susan Alberts).
01/2005 – 08/2005 Post-doctoral Fellow, in the Molecular Lab at Coriell Institute for Medical Research, Camden, New Jersey, USA. (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Joseph Lorenz).
01/2000 – 01/2005 Doctoral Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. (Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Linda Vigilant, Prof. Dr. Martha Robbins, Prof. Dr. Christophe Boesch).
1993-1995 Research Assistant, Department of Entomology, Uganda Virus Research Institute, Entebbe.
2022-2025 German Research Foundation, DFG, grant (73,242 Euros) The DFG project grant: BI 2357/1-1. The PSP-Element at UBonn is 52A-50193-00-13050300. This grant is part support towards a larger collaborative research project “The consequences of biodiversity loss and land use change on infectious disease emergence” that includes Makerere University, University of Bonn (Germany), Charite University of Medicine’s Institute of Virology (Germany), and Uganda Virus Research Institute, Entebbe.
2021-2022 Makerere University Research & Innovations Fund (RIF), MAKRIF/CH/02/21 (162,655,000 Ug Shs or US$ 46,472) towards support for “A survey of mosquito species diversity and abundance in Uganda’s Lake Victoria Basin: an assessment of the transmission risk of mosquito-borne arboviruses”
2008-2010 Copley Fellow for gorilla conservation genetics (US$ 50,000): Bud Heller Foundation, USA
2007-2008 Copley Fellow for gorilla conservation genetics (US$ 50,000): James & Helen Copley Foundation, USA
2001 – 2003 Franklin Mosher Baldwin Research Fellowship (US $ 23,000): LSB Leakey Foundation, USA
2000-2004 Stipendium for doctoral studies, Max Planck Society, Germany
Kalungi F, Nsubuga A, Anywar G. (2023). Network analysis and molecular docking studies of quercetin as a potential treatment for prostate cancer. In Silico Pharmacol. 19;11 (1):24. doi: 10.1007/s40203-023-00162-4. PMID: 37736110; PMCID: PMC10509105.
Osinde C, Sobhy IS, Wari D, Truong Dinh S, Hojo Y, Osibe DA, Shinya T, Tugume AK, Nsubuga AM, and Galis l. (2023) – “Comparative Analysis of Sorghum (C4) and Rice (C3) Plant Headspace Volatiles Induced by Artificial Herbivory. Plant Signaling & Behavior, 18 (1), https://doi.org/10.1080/15592324.2023.2243064
Osinde C, Sakamoto W, Kajiya-Kanegae H, Sobhy IS, Tugume AK, Nsubuga AM, and Galis l. (2023) Identification of quantitative trait loci associated with sorghum susceptibility to Asian stem borer damage. Journal of Plant Interactions 18 (1): Pages 21531. https://doi.org/10.1080/17429145.2022.2153182
Ochieng JR, Bachs MP, Nsubuga AM, Rwego IB, Kisakye JJM, LM Riba LM, and Figueres JM (2022) Investigation on Prevalence of Canine Trypanosomiasis in the Conservation Areas of Bwindi-Mgahinga and Queen Elizabeth in Western Uganda. J Parasitol Res. 2022:2606871. Published 2022 Sep 10. doi:10.1155/2022/2606871. PMID: 36124129
Akwongo B, Katuura E, Nsubuga AM, Tugume P, Andama M, Anywar G, et al. (2022). Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants utilized in the management of candidiasis in Northern Uganda. Tropical Medicine and Health 50 (1): pages 78. Published Online: 2022-10-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41182-022-00471-y PMID:36242066; PMCID: PMC9569084.
Nsubuga AM, Holzman J, Chemnick L, Ryder OA (2010). The cryptic genetic structure of the North American captive gorilla population. Conservation Genetics 11: 161-172 Conservation Genetics 11, 161–172 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-009-0015-x
Bergl RA, Bradley BJ, Nsubuga AM, Vigilant L (2008). Effects of habitat fragmentation, population size and demographic history on primate populations: the Cross River gorilla in a comparative context. American Journal of Primatology 70: 1-12.
Nsubuga AM, Robbins MM, Boesch C and Vigilant L. (2008). Patterns of paternity and group fission in wild multimale mountain gorilla groups. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 135 (3): 263-274. PubMed PMID: 18000886.
Nsubuga AM (2005). Genetic analysis of the Social Structure in Wild Mountain Gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Ph.D. thesis. University of Leipzig. 150 pp.
Nsubuga AM, Robbins MM, Roeder AD, Morin PA, Boesch C and Vigilant L (2004). Factors affecting the amount of genomic DNA extracted from ape feces and the identification of an improved sample storage method. Molecular Ecology 13 (7): 2089-2094. PubMed PMID: 15189228
Lukas D, Bradley BJ, Nsubuga AM, Doran-Sheehy D, Robbins MM, and Vigilant L. (2004). Major histocompatibility complex and microsatellite variation in two populations of wild gorillas. Molecular Ecology 13 (11): 3389-3402. PubMed PMID: 15487998.
Bradley BJ, Nsubuga AM, Robbins MM, Vigilant L. (2001). Gorilla molecular ecology: From the forest to the laboratory. Gorilla Journal 22:31-33