Hilary Edema

Hilary Edema holds a master of science degree in Life Sciences with a specialization in bioinformatics from Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology and became a member of SynBio Africa and Makerere University iGEM team in January 2020.

He worked at Gulu University Biosciences Research Labs for three years, implementing several projects before moving to Moscow, Russia in 2018.  While in Moscow, he worked at EFKO Innovation Center where he was tasked to engineer a novel enzyme for cheese production. With skills and expertise in bioinformatics, genetic engineering, enzyme design, programming and machine/deep learning, Hilary adds an invaluable skill set to SynBio Africa’s existing skills tool box.

His research interests are diverse and include bioinformatics, synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, bio-security, forensics, and artificial intelligence. He has a strong interest in raising awareness among the public and policy makers on how synthetic biology can be used to solve some of the most pressing social challenges such as poverty, famine, disease among others, which

are rampant in communities in Africa. He also hopes to excite and attract more youngsters to participate and pursue careers in biotechnology or synthetic biology.