MSc Student

Jessie Dixon is a Master’s student in Microbiology at Stellenbosch University, with an Honour’s in Plant Biotechnology. She is passionate about the intersection of microbial ecology, child health, and environmental change, with a particular focus on how living conditions shape the gut microbiome.

Her research is investigates how moving from informal to formal housing affects health outcomes in children under five years old in South Africa. Jessie’s work specifically aims to develop a predictive model for Environmental Enteric Dysfunction (EED) and stunting risk, using a combination of gut microbiome composition and function, faecal inflammatory biomarkers, and socioeconomic and environmental data. Jessie seeks to understand how microbial composition and function are associated with stunting and gut inflammation in early life.

Her goal is to identify microbial signatures that could serve as early, non-invasive indicators of stunting and EED which could inform targeted interventions and public health strategies tailored to low-resource, high-risk communities.