Sonal Kale, Ph.D.

Sonal Kale, Ph.D., joined DCEG as a postdoctoral fellow in the Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch (IIB) in July 2024. She earned her Ph.D. in biotechnology from the National Institute of Malaria Research, New Delhi, India. Her thesis work involved studying the genetic diversity and serological responses among Plasmodium vaccine candidate antigens in malaria endemic regions of India. Prior to joining DCEG, Dr. Kale worked at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as a postdoctoral fellow, focusing on malarial anemia pathogenesis in young children and pathways associated with acute hemoglobin loss during malaria infection. Dr. Kale was awarded the prestigious ICMR-Centenary Postdoctoral Fellowship and Senior Research Fellowship from the Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India. 

In IIB, Dr. Kale is characterizing sero-reactivity patterns against Plasmodium falciparum proteins associated with endemic Burkitt lymphoma in the EMBLEM study using the wheat germ cell-free system (WGCFS) array. Her mentor is Sam Mbulaiteye, MBChB, M.Phil., M.Med.