AHRI Faculty Member Dr Mohlopheni Marakalala has been selected to join the Wellcome Open Research Early Career Researchers Advisory Board.
Open Research provides all Wellcome Trust researchers with a place to rapidly publish results, with a transparent peer review process and the inclusion of all source data. Dr Marakalala joins seven other early career researchers from a wide range of research backgrounds on the recently appointed Board.
According to Wellcome Open Research, the Board will ensure sure the voices of the next generation of researchers are heard, and will catalyse reform in publishing research.
Dr Marakalala’s core interest is in developing TB biomarkers and host-directed therapies by studying factors associated with disease progression using lung tissue and blood samples from TB patients. He is also interested in cell death modalities in the mononuclear phagocyte system and their role in TB immunopathogenesis. His other focus is on understanding strategies utilized by Mycobacterium tuberculosis to subvert the host immune system.
“Open research communication can provide opportunities to early career scientists by increasing visibility of their work and enabling them to access other important work at low or no cost. It is through such visibility and accessibility that more and more of our work will become available to broader communities, including general society,” he commented on the Open Research blog. “This will also help our work find its way into policy formulation and societal impact as government and non-governmental organisations can start reading the material that is easily accessible.”