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.

The two-week training course aims to train participants on long-read sequencing on Nanopore for whole-genome and metagenomics applications. The course will consist of lectures, laboratory experiments, and bioinformatics analysis.

Participants are expected to be able to sequence an isolated and complex biological material from sample processing to bioinformatics to identify the etiology of disease (AST patterns) and replicate the analysis independently.

This will take place between March 18 and 29, 2024, at the KEMRI KGS Training Centre.

Article by Calvin Mbeda, Adhiambo Phillister, and Frank Angira

Article by Calvin Mbeda, Adhiambo Phillister, and Frank Angira