Anastasia Baffour-Kyei joined King’s College London in September 2021 as part of the Covid testing lab after completing her BSc in Biochemistry at Middlesex University (1st Class, Honours).

Her research focused on the biochemical pathways associated with several different biological disorders, such as acute myeloid leukaemia, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s. She also researched gene expression and control in relation to development of disorders (such as sickle cell), biochemical mechanisms and their physiological/biological functions, as well as the computational analysis of drug interaction and biochemical molecules such as proteins.

On completion of her degree, she received a top student award from the Society of Biology.

At Kings, she has gained experience in a wide range of laboratory genomics methods. These include DNA extraction, amplification, quantification and normalisation, with the use of automated and manual services. She also has experience in library preparation for Nanopore (using PromethION) and illumina genotyping for genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS).

She has also supported research groups by providing technical assistance in the setup of their projects, as well as receiving, processing, and storing their samples (blood, urine, saliva, etc.) using a LIMS management system.

Research interests

• Haematological disorders including sickle cell disease
• The possible effects of new treatment on individuals with sickle cell disease
• DNA/ RNA analysis
• Biochemical pathways
• Proteomics
• Genomics
• Diversity in research

Expertise and public Engagement

Using social media, Anastasia spreads awareness about disorders which have been found to have a disproportionate impact on Black people.