Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Uganda, P.O. Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda.
Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, P.O. Box 7072, Kampala, Uganda.
Genome. 2021 May;64(5):503-513. doi: 10.1139/gen-2020-0013. Epub 2021 Jan 12.
Despite the poor genomics research capacity in Africa, efforts have been made to empower African scientists to get involved in genomics research, particularly that involving African populations. As part of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) Consortium, an initiative was set to make genomics research in Africa an African endeavor and was developed through funding from the United States' National Institutes of Health Common Fund and the Wellcome Trust. H3Africa is intended to encourage a contemporary research approach by African investigators and to stimulate the study of genomic and environmental determinants of common diseases. The goal of these endeavors is to improve the health of African populations. To build capacity for bioinformatics and genomics research, organizations such as the African Society for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology have been established. In this article, we discuss the current status of the bioinformatics infrastructure in Africa as well as the training challenges and opportunities.
尽管非洲的基因组学研究能力较差，但已经做出努力，以使非洲科学家有能力参与基因组学研究，特别是涉及非洲人群的研究。作为“非洲人类遗传与健康计划”（H3Africa）联盟的一部分，发起了一项倡议，旨在使非洲的基因组学研究成为非洲人的努力，并通过美国国立卫生研究院共同基金和惠康信托基金会的资助得以开展。H3Africa 旨在鼓励非洲研究人员采用现代研究方法，并激发对常见疾病的基因组和环境决定因素的研究。这些努力的目标是改善非洲人口的健康。为了建立生物信息学和基因组学研究的能力，已经建立了诸如非洲生物信息学和计算生物学学会等组织。在本文中，我们讨论了非洲生物信息学基础设施的现状以及培训方面的挑战和机遇。
