Peter Ouma

Biochemist and computational biologist working on how gut microbial metabolites reach and reprogramme host physiology. First author on a manuscript under journal review that identifies a folate intermediate as the signal linking a bacterial postbiotic to serotonergic neuronal activity. Comfortable across the whole chain, from culturing the organism and running the assay through mass-spectrometry acquisition, feature extraction and annotation, to statistical and machine-learning modelling in R and Python.

Publishes reproducibly: analysis code on Zenodo, sequence on GenBank, pipelines public on GitHub.

MSc Dissertation Researcher at Sardar Patel University (2024-07 – 2026-04)

Postbiotic regulation of host physiology and neuronal signalling in C. elegans

• Established that microbial metabolites alone drive probiotic benefit, as measured by full reproduction of lifespan extension, oxidative-stress resistance and glucose homeostasis effects with no bacterial colonisation, by running cell-free L. paracasei postbiotic extracts across five independent phenotypic assays.
• Identified a specific folate intermediate as a neuronal signalling molecule, as measured by increased NSM-neuron calcium-transient intensity under elevated 10-formyl-tetrahydrofolate acting through FLOR1 and GON2 with unmetabolised folic acid antagonising the route, by acquiring and quantifying in vivo calcium-imaging time series.
• Extracted valid inference from non-Gaussian, longitudinal, repeated-measures data, as measured by converged generalised linear mixed models across five phenotype channels, by building glmmTMB model-selection workflows in R instead of defaulting to unsupported parametric tests.
• Demonstrated an antifungal effect of the postbiotic, as measured by suppression of Candida albicans hyphal filamentation, by running morphological transition assays under standardised induction.

Research Intern at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) (2025-05 – 2025-07)

Untargeted metabolomics of temperature-stressed plants

• Quantified the metabolic response of plants to temperature stress, as measured by a 2-fold rise in orientin and a 40 percent fall in cynaroside, by processing 500-feature untargeted LC-IMS-Q-TOF datasets end to end through MZmine and annotating flavonoids in SIRIUS and CSI:FingerID.
• Removed microbial confounding from the metabolite readout, as measured by verified axenic Lemna minor cultures suitable for untargeted profiling, by developing and validating sterile culture protocols in house.
• Linked metabolite signatures to stress intensity, as measured by clear separation along principal components with ANOVA-confirmed group differences, by applying PCA and ANOVA pipelines in R to the annotated feature matrix.

Lab Rotation Researcher at Sardar Patel University (2024-07 – 2026-04)

Immunomodulatory and gut-microbiota effects of L. paracasei SVL297 in murine models

• Showed a probiotic strain restores immune tolerance, as measured by expansion of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells in mesenteric lymph nodes alongside reduced serum IgE and immune-cell infiltration, by dosing atopic dermatitis mouse models and phenotyping by flow cytometry.
• Characterised the cytokine mechanism, as measured by suppressed Th1, Th2 and Th17 responses with raised IL-10 and TGF-beta, by profiling cytokine panels alongside gut microbial community composition.

Research Assistant (PURE Programme) at Sabanci University (2024-06 – 2024-09)

Innate immune signalling and microRNA regulation in dendritic cells

• Established a causal link between a single microRNA and type-I interferon output, as measured by a 50 percent rise in IFN-alpha on miR-155 gain of function (p = 0.004) and a 40 percent fall on inhibition (p = 0.008), by running paired gain-and loss-of-function experiments in human plasmacytoid dendritic cells (GEN2.2).
• Mapped inflammatory microRNA induction kinetics, as measured by 3-, 8- and 12-fold miR-155 induction at 4, 8 and 24 hours (p < 0.01), by profiling expression time courses after CpG/TLR9 stimulation of the MyD88-IRF7-NF-kB axis.

Undergraduate Research Project at Kenyatta University (2022-08 – 2023-03)

• Restored agricultural viability to petroleum-contaminated soil, as measured by seed germination rising from 45.0 to 98.6 percent, by inoculating with Pseudomonas aeruginosa consortia and characterising catechol-dioxygenase kinetics across temperature and substrate concentration.

Microbiology Laboratory Volunteer at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (2023-04 – 2024-05)

• Sustained high-throughput TB diagnostics, as measured by 80+ QuantiFERON-TB Gold IFN-gamma release immunoassays per month, by running the assay workflow end to end; scaled capacity by training and supervising 14 interns to independent working standard.

Microbiology Quality-Control Officer at Brookside Dairy (2022-01 – 2022-09)

• Kept product releases inside regulatory safety limits, as measured by aflatoxin M1 held below 3 ppb and pasteurisation efficacy verified batch by batch, by enumerating E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria across the production line.

Substitute Teacher, Physics and Chemistry at Nyanginja Secondary School (2019-01 – 2019-08)

• Raised sustained student engagement in the sciences, as measured by an after-school science club founded and kept running

MSc in Biochemistry – Sardar Patel University (2024-10 – 2026-04)

BSc in Microbiology – Kenyatta University (2018 – 2023)

Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education – St. Anthony Dago Kokore Secondary School (2015 – 2018)