One of the brightest seekers of knowledge to walk the halls of Mt Kenya University (MKU), where her xLabs is in situ, Ms Mwai also moonlights as a science communicator, running the YouTube channel myLAB: The Science Room.
Why Science? “Initially, I wanted to be a dental scientist, but I scored an A- and shifted to laboratory science. But I wanted to make an impact, especially in women’s health.” In 2024, she travelled to Japan to learn about malaria cultures. It is in Japan that they simulated what happens in the human body once you get infected with malaria.
Something was implanted in her. She wanted the grand slam. “I took the lessons and came back home to pioneer them. I felt that this was real change, and now MKU has become a benchmark for malaria diagnostics, and people come from all over to use the cultures we develop in this lab.”
Ms Mwai has trained her mission on developing potential vaccine candidates against malaria in pregnancy. “We can prevent the parasite from going to the placenta, a major issue especially in Western Kenya and the coastal region.” How did she get here? “Networks.
"To be a good scientist, curiosity is essential — you must work hard and seek new ways to solve human problems."
Ms Mwai is the kind of founder Silicon Valley investors fantasise about: technically fluent, unapologetically ambitious, and disarmingly self-aware.
On juggling raising kids ad pursuing her dreams, Ms Mwai says she can do both.
What makes a good scientist, she says, is curiosity. “You have to look for new ways to solve human problems.” And two, hard work. “Science can be disappointing.”
-Eddy Ashioya