H3ABioNet, a sustainable Pan-African Bioinformatics Network for Human Heredity and Health in Africa
- Nicola J Mulder1,37,
- Ezekiel Adebiyi2,
- Raouf Alami3,
- Alia Benkahla4,
- James Brandful5,
- Seydou Doumbia6,
- Dean Everett7,
- Faisal M Fadlelmola8,
- Fatima Gaboun9,
- Simani Gaseitsiwe10,
- Hassan Ghazal11,
- Scott Hazelhurst12,
- Azeddine Ibrahimi13,
- Winston Hide14,
- Yasmina Jaufeerally Fakim15,
- Victor Jongeneel16,
- Fourie Joubert17,
- Samar Kassim18,
- Jonathan Kayondo19,
- Judit Kumuthini20,
- Sylvester Lyantagaye21,
- Julie Makani22,
- Ahmed Mansour Alzohairy23,
- Daniel Masiga24,
- Ahmed Moussa25,
- Oyekanmi Nash26,
- Odile Ouwe Missi Oukem-Boyer27,
- Ellis Owusu-Dabo28,
- Sumir Panji1,
- Hugh Patterton29,
- Fouzia Radouani30,
- Khalid Sadki31,
- Fouad Seghrouchni32,
- Özlem Tastan Bishop33,
- Nicki Tiffin34,
- Nzovu Ulenga35,
- H3ABioNet Consortium36
- 1 University of Cape Town;
- 2 Covenant University Bioinformatics Research;
- 3 Centre National de Transfusion Sanguine;
- 4 Institute Pasteur of Tunis;
- 5 Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research;
- 6 University of Sciences, Techniques and Technology of Bamako;
- 7 Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical research Programme;
- 8 University of Khartoum;
- 9 Institut National de Recherche Agronomique;
- 10 Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership;
- 11 University Mohammed First;
- 12 University of the Witwatersrand;
- 13 Université Mohammed V Souissi;
- 14 Harvard School of Public Health;
- 15 University of Mauritius;
- 16 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign;
- 17 University of Pretoria;
- 18 Ain Shams University;
- 19 Uganda Virus Research Institute;
- 20 Centre for Proteomic and Genomic Research;
- 21 University of Dar es Salaam;
- 22 Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences;
- 23 Zagazig University;
- 24 International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology;
- 25 Abdelmalek Essaadi University;
- 26 National Biotechnology Development Agency;
- 27 Centre de Recherche Medicale et Sanitaire;
- 28 Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology;
- 29 University of the Free State;
- 30 Institut Pasteur du Maroc;
- 31 University Mohammed V of Rabat;
- 32 Institut National d'Hygiéne;
- 33 Rhodes University;
- 34 University of the Western Cape;
- 35 Management and Development for Health;
- 36 -
- ↵* Corresponding author; email: nicola.mulder{at}uct.ac.za
Abstract
The application of genomics technologies to medicine and biomedical research is increasing in popularity, made possible by new high-throughput genotyping and sequencing technologies and improved data analysis capabilities. Some of the greatest genetic diversity among humans, animals, plants and microbiota occurs in Africa, yet genomic research outputs from the continent are limited. The H3Africa initiative was established to drive the development of genomic research for human health in Africa and through recognition of the critical role of bioinformatics in this process, spurred the establishment of H3ABioNet, a pan-African Bioinformatics network for H3Africa. The limitations in bioinformatics capacity on the continent have been a major contributory factor to the lack of notable outputs in high-throughput biology research. While pockets of high quality bioinformatics teams have existed previously, the majority of research institutions lack experienced faculty who can train and supervise bioinformatics students. H3ABioNet aims to address this dire need, specifically in the area of human genetics and genomics, but knock-on effects are ensuring this extends to other areas of bioinformatics. Here we describe the emergence of genomics research and the development of bioinformatics in Africa through H3ABioNet.
- Received June 26, 2015.
- Accepted November 25, 2015.
- Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
This manuscript is Open Access.
This article, published in Genome Research, is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license), as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
