Projects
The West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation in April 2021 for a COVID-19 surveillance project entitled "Tracking COVID-19 infection in West Africa to guide public health interventions".
This is a multi-country project in collaboration with 4 partner institutions in Nigeria and Burkina Faso, including 3 African Centers of Excellence, members of the WANIDA network:
- African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) at Redeemer University, Ede, Nigeria
- African Center of Excellence in Population Health and Policy (ACEPHAP) at Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria
- African Center of Excellence in Biotechnological Innovations for the Elimination of Vector-Borne Diseases (ITECH-MTV) in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
- Groupe de Recherche-Action en Santé (GRAS) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Funds will support the WANIDA collaborative project: "Molecular epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in West African countries". The WANIDA network will fund 3 other centers:
- African Center of Excellence for Mycotoxins and Food Safety (ACEMFS), Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria
- African Center of Excellence for Neglected Tropical Diseases and Forensic Biology (ACENTDFB), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
- African Center of Excellence for the Prevention and Control of Transmissible Diseases (CEA-PCMT), Gamal Abdel Nasser University, Conakry, Guinea.
COVID-19 ROCKEFELLER PROJECT
The West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation in April 2021 for a COVID-19 surveillance project entitled "Tracking COVID-19 infection in West Africa to guide public health interventions".
This is a multi-country project in collaboration with 4 partner institutions in Nigeria and Burkina Faso, including 3 African Centers of Excellence, members of the WANIDA network:
- African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) at Redeemer University, Ede, Nigeria
- African Center of Excellence in Population Health and Policy (ACEPHAP) at Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria
- African Center of Excellence in Biotechnological Innovations for the Elimination of Vector-Borne Diseases (ITECH-MTV) in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.
- Groupe de Recherche-Action en Santé (GRAS) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Funds will support the WANIDA collaborative project: "Molecular epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in West African countries". The WANIDA network will fund 3 other centers:
- African Center of Excellence for Mycotoxins and Food Safety (ACEMFS), Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria
- African Center of Excellence for Neglected Tropical Diseases and Forensic Biology (ACENTDFB), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
- African Center of Excellence for the Prevention and Control of Transmissible Diseases (CEA-PCMT), Gamal Abdel Nasser University, Conakry, Guinea.
WACCBIP is coordinating the project and has shared the protocols for ethical approval with all partners. In addition, WACCBIP and ACEPHAP have obtained ethical approval for the study. ACEGID, ITECH-MTV and GRAS have applied for ethical consideration and are awaiting approval to begin the project.
WACCBIP and ACEGID will do the sequencing. WACCBIP will perform 900 NGS for Ghana and 400 each for ITECH-MTV and GRAS, and around 100 NGS from ACEPHAP (mainly for quality control). ACEGID will sequence 400 samples from its sites and 300 samples from ACEPHAP.
WACCBIP, in collaboration with the University of Ghana's Office of Research, Innovation and Development (ORID), has launched due diligence checks for all partners in preparation for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Feedback was received from 2 centers. WACCBIP also shared the Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) and Data Transfer Agreement (DTA) with all sites and received feedback from 2 centers.
- 10,000 antibody kits have been purchased for the seroprevalence survey in Ghana and will probably be shared with sites in Burkina Faso.
- 2500 antibody kits have been deployed in Ghana to obtain the seroprevalence estimate for June 2021, and this operation will be repeated every two months, (August, October and December). The survey is being carried out in partnership with the Christian Hospital Association of Ghana (CHAG).
- 300 NGS have already been performed by WACCBIP for COVID-19 samples from Ghana from February 2021 to April 2021, and data analysis is underway. Within WACCBIP, around 100 sequencing runs are underway for COVID-19 samples in Ghana for May 2021.
- Virtual meetings are held fortnightly with project partners, and monthly with the Rockefeller Foundation, to review progress and devise strategies to keep the project on schedule. Requests are also underway for the acquisition of Abbott kits for the seroprevalence study in Nigeria. WACCBIP is also discussing how to receive archived samples from ACEPHAP for NGS analysis.