Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) hosted a two-week training course with the purpose of training participants on long-read sequencing on Nanopore for whole-genome and metagenomics applications. The course consisted of lectures, laboratory experiments, and bioinformatics analysis.

Professor Kaleebu, the outgoing Director of the Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Unit (MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit), has received the OBE in recognition of his services to education and public health.

Tuberculosis (TB) caused 1.6 million deaths in 2021, being the leading cause of death among infectious diseases, above HIV. Yet, it is a curable and preventable disease. While a quarter of the global population has been infected, only 5-10 % of infected individuals develop symptoms. The highest burden regions are South-East Asia, Africa, and the Western Pacific. This bacterial disease is treated by a long course of antibiotics.

Article by Calvin Mbeda, Adhiambo Phillister, and Frank Angira

The GeneXpert machine is a molecular diagnostic platform developed by Cepheid, a company specializing in molecular diagnostics. It is used for the rapid and accurate detection of various infectious diseases, including providing counts of HIV viral load, also known as viral load testing. The GeneXpert machine tests clinical samples to quickly identify infectious diseases like tuberculosis (TB). 

Article by Calvin Mbeda, Adhiambo Phillister, and Frank Angira