Dr. Kristie Bloom is a South African molecular biologist based at the University of the Witwatersrand. She serves as Group Leader for Next-generation Vaccines at the Antiviral Gene Therapy Research Unit (AGTRU), where her work focuses on developing mRNA vaccines and gene therapies for infectious diseases, particularly hepatitis B virus (HBV), SARS-CoV-2, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. 

Dr. Bloom earned her PhD from Wits University in 2013, where she pioneered genome engineering agents to disable HBV. She later conducted postdoctoral research at the Institute for Transfusion Medicine and Gene Therapy (ITG), Uniklinik Freiburg, in Germany, exploring gene therapy approaches for paediatric immunodeficiencies using stem cells, viral vectors, and mRNA technologies.

Currently Dr. Bloom is advancing synthetic mRNA-based vaccines tailored to infectious diseases endemic to sub-Saharan Africa. This involves antigen design as well as development and testing of novel bio-renewable ionisable lipids for drug delivery. This work supports local vaccine manufacturing capacity, reducing reliance on imports and improving pandemic preparedness. Beyond her scientific contributions, Dr. Bloom is committed to training the next generation of molecular medicine researchers and fostering biotechnology capacity on the continent. Her work bridges cutting-edge molecular innovation with global health priorities.