African cereal crops (2001 to2009): genetic engineering of cereal plants (barley, millet, sorghum and maize) using particle bombardment and Agrobacterium-mediated transformation methodology introducing fungal resistance, insect resistance, maize streak virus resistance, and genes to improve nutritional quality of sorghum and maize.

O’Kennedy’s research interest changed to biopharming since 2010, producing nanoparticle (virus-like particles) vaccines against various target animal diseases in a plant expression platform. She has two patent applications and numerous research publications in the field of genetic engineering and producing veterinary vaccines and antigens in plants as vaccine candidates and to serve in diagnostic test kits. Her focus is on plant-produced nanoparticle- based veterinary vaccines to protect against African horse sickness, Bluetongue, avian influenza, equine influenza, rabies and to serve as immunocontraceptive; all produced from tobacco (Nicotiana benthamiana).

O’Kennedy is an extraordinary lecturer at the Department of Production Animal Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria. She is also the principal investigator for a project titled “Development of a candidate Covid-19 vaccine (plant-produced Covid-19 VLP as vaccine candidate)”.

Expertise: Molecular biology