A partnership between Wellcome Connecting Science and H3ABioNet is set to deliver bioinformatics training throughout the continent in a bid to help scientists address Africa’s most urgent health challenges.

Targeted at researchers and healthcare professionals, the bioinformatics (the science of collecting and analysing complex biological data such as genetic codes) training will equip participants with the skills required to analyse next-generation genetic sequencing data, according to H3Africa.

‘The skills acquired during the course will be applied to a wide range of health problems and research areas in Africa, from COVID-19 to rare genetic diseases,’ says Nicky Mulder, H3ABioNet principal investigator and head of the Computational Biology Division at the University of Cape Town.

The training is being conducted in 31 classrooms across 16 countries, supported by locally based staff as well as bioinformatics trainers located in Africa, Europe and the US. More than 2 000 applications were received for the course, of which 415 were accepted.

18 May 2021
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