Mr. Otim is a Molecular biologist with a strong passion for synthetic biology and biosecurity which he developed after attending his first synthetic biology conference (SB.7) in Singapore as a Biosecurity fellow, sponsored by Johns Hopkins center for Health security. He is an accomplished scientist who spent over 8 years within the WHO Polio and Measles Regional Reference Laboratory Network at Uganda Virus Research Institute, Uganda, doing scientific research, active disease surveillance and outbreak response on vaccine preventable diseases and emerging infectious diseases (EID). He participated in the evaluation of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) implementation activities in Uganda, that contributed to identifying the key outcomes and contributions of IDSR strategy to the improvement of the country’s disease surveillance system. Currently, he has taken active participation and given valuable information with regards to COVID-19 testing protocols and insights on laboratory preparedness to handle COVID 19 testing within United Nations Mission in South Sudan's Laboratory network and national counterparts in South Sudan. He studied MSc. in Molecular biology and Biotechnology from Makerere University; BSc. in Medical Laboratory Science from Mbarara University; and Advanced Diploma in Health Management and Leadership from Uganda Institute of Allied Health and Management sciences, Mulago. He founded SynBio Africa which is the first synthetic biology/biotechnology platform in Africa for scientists, researchers, academicians, and policymakers to converge and forge successful pathways for harnessing and promoting biotechnological research in Africa. Awards received includes: Global community biosummit Fellowship to attend the Global community Biosummit at MIT Media Lab, Boston in Oct. 2019; Global South Biosecurity Diplomacy Fellowship to attend the biosecurity workshop in Geneva, Switzerland (Aug 2019); Biosecurity Fellowship from BioBricks Foundation and Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security to attend the SB.7 Synthetic Biology Conference in Singapore (June 2017), and Global synthetic biology summit (SynBioBeta) in San Francisco, California (Oct 2018) respectively. He also received PGRIP Scholarship to attend and present at the UN Convention on Biodiversity in Egypt, Nov 2018. Read more at: https://synbioafrica.com/about-us/founding-and-history/