Jean-Baka Domelevo Entfellner

Jean-Baka Domelevo Entfellner is a scientist–bioinformatics at the BecA-ILRI Hub. Before joining the BecA-ILRI Hub, Jean-Baka was a senior lecturer in Computer Science at the University of the Western Cape (Cape Town, South Africa), and a postdoctoral fellow with the South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI). As a postdoctoral fellow, Jean-Baka worked for the NIH-funded H3ABioNet project, part of the broader Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) initiative.

With a formal education in computer science, mathematics and signal processing, Jean-Baka took a one-year sabbatical in 2006-2007 to lecture in Niamey (Niger) and Yaoundé (Cameroon), in the framework of a project aimed at developing higher education and research capacity in mathematics and computer science in Africa. Back in France, he conducted his PhD studies in Montpellier under the supervision of Prof. Olivier Gascuel, on a topic combining phylogenetics and statistical modelling of protein families.

Jean-Baka’s responsibilities at the BecA-ILRI Hub include leading the bioinformatics platform, providing support to the BecA-ILRI Hub users in the computational analysis of their “omics” data (phenotypic or genomic in the broad sense), as well as designing and implementing capacity building activities in bioinformatics. Jean-Baka is also the bioinformatician for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency/Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (DTRA/CBEP) project on the whole-genome sequencing of African Swine Fever Virus.

Originally from Paris, France, Jean-Baka is an alumnus of the prestigious École Normale Supérieure (ENS Cachan, France). Prior to his PhD (University of Montpellier, France), he obtained a BSc and an MSc in computer science from the University of Rennes (France), but also a BA in English studies from the University of Rennes (France), and an MA in English studies from the University of Montpellier (France).