London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
Uganda Medical Informatics Centre, MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit, Entebbe, Uganda.
Glob Health Epidemiol Genom. 2020 Jul 15;5:e3. doi: 10.1017/gheg.2020.3. eCollection 2020.
Africa plays a central importance role in the human origins, and disease susceptibility, agriculture and biodiversity conservation. Nigeria as the most populous and most diverse country in Africa, owing to its 250 ethnic groups and over 500 different native languages is imperative to any global genomic initiative. The newly inaugurated Nigerian Bioinformatics and Genomics Network (NBGN) becomes necessary to facilitate research collaborative activities and foster opportunities for skills' development amongst Nigerian bioinformatics and genomics investigators. NBGN aims to advance and sustain the fields of genomics and bioinformatics in Nigeria by serving as a vehicle to foster collaboration, provision of new opportunities for interactions between various interdisciplinary subfields of genomics, computational biology and bioinformatics as this will provide opportunities for early career researchers. To provide the foundation for sustainable collaborations, the network organises conferences, workshops, trainings and create opportunities for collaborative research studies and internships, recognise excellence, openly share information and create opportunities for more Nigerians to develop the necessary skills to exceed in genomics and bioinformatics. NBGN currently has attracted more than 650 members around the world. Research collaborations between Nigeria, Africa and the West will grow and all stakeholders, including funding partners, African scientists, researchers across the globe, physicians and patients will be the eventual winners. The exponential membership growth and diversity of research interests of NBGN just within weeks of its establishment and the unanticipated attendance of its activities suggest the significant importance of the network to bioinformatics and genomics research in Nigeria.
非洲在人类起源、疾病易感性、农业和生物多样性保护方面发挥着核心作用。尼日利亚是非洲人口最多、最多样化的国家，拥有 250 个民族和 500 多种不同的本土语言，对于任何全球基因组计划都至关重要。新成立的尼日利亚生物信息学和基因组学网络 (NBGN) 对于促进研究合作活动和为尼日利亚生物信息学和基因组学研究人员提供发展机会是必要的。NBGN 的目标是通过促进合作、为基因组学各个跨学科子领域之间的互动提供新机会、为计算生物学和生物信息学领域提供新机会，来推进和维持尼日利亚的基因组学和生物信息学领域，这将为早期职业研究人员提供机会。为了提供可持续合作的基础，该网络组织会议、研讨会、培训，并为合作研究和实习创造机会，表彰卓越，公开分享信息，并为更多尼日利亚人提供发展必要技能以在基因组学和生物信息学领域取得优异成绩的机会。NBGN 目前在全球拥有超过 650 名成员。尼日利亚、非洲和西方之间的研究合作将不断增加，所有利益相关者，包括资助伙伴、非洲科学家、全球研究人员、医生和患者，都将是最终的赢家。NBGN 在成立仅几周内会员人数的指数级增长和研究兴趣的多样性，以及其活动的意外参与，表明该网络对尼日利亚生物信息学和基因组学研究的重要性。
