New bioscience research facility to boost innovation

By Joe Ombuor

A world-class bioscience research facility that has opened its doors in Nairobi is set to move Africa closer to the developed world in agricultural technology.

The aptly named Biosciences Eastern and Central Africa (BecA) centre at the International Livestock Research Institute hub brings together a critical mass of scientists from Africa and abroad and is a boon to scientists and students in African national research institutes and universities.

The Director, Dr Segenet Kelemu, says the arrival of BecA has consolidated on the African soil, research projects once scattered all over the globe with no or little interaction and co-ordination.

Faster progress

The Biosciences Eastern and Central Africa centre has a state of the art DNA sequencing machine. Photo: Courtesy

"This helps to synergise research conducted in Africa and around the world, thus leading to faster progress and more meaningful results that can be realistically applied here in Africa," she says adding that BecA serves a focal point linking African science to the global scientific community.

Dr Kelemu cites the Irish and sweet potato research work that previously was done in Lima, Peru for Africa, the molecular research on drought tolerant maize that used to be conducted in far away Mexico, the molecular work on sorghum that took place in India and aflatoxin work on maize in the US among research currently in progress at the Nairobi facility. "These and others are now done here by 33 core scientific and technical staff working directly for the BecA," she says.

She says colleagues from US, UK, Belgium, South Korea, India, Denmark and Finland back African experts at the facility.

Ultra modern

"Scientists at this ultra modern hub can employ bioinformatics, a tool for modern bioscience that involves the use of Information Technology and computer science in the field of molecular biology, genomics — the study of an organism’s full set of genes— and proteomics —the study of protein gene products," says Kelemu.

Sequencing machine

A state of the art DNA sequencing machine at the facility — the 454 pyrosequencer — can be used to sequence DNA from plant, animal and microbia orgin and is credited with making it possible to generate the equivalent of half of the cassava genome or an eighth of the human genome in a single run.

"BecA is a place where a diversity of nationalities, skills, backgrounds and languages come together to achieve a common goal to improve the performance of African agriculture with a view to helping pull Africa out of the shadow of poverty and hunger," says Kelemu.

The facility will be accessible to graduate students from across Africa.