5Th Annual WACCBIP Research Conference to Open from July 21-23, 2021.
The 5th annual WACCBIP Research Conference opens from July 21-23, 2021, in the WACCBIP Conference Hall at the University of Ghana. The opening ceremony will start at 10 AM and can be attended physically or virtually via Youtube, Zoom, and Facebook.
The WACCBIP Research Conference is an annual showcase of the world-class research conducted by WACCBIP fellows and members of the Centre's international faculty drawn from prestigious institutions across the world. In line with the theme “Building Sustainable Research Capacity in Africa: Lessons from the Pandemic”, this year's conference features keynote addresses from global research leaders, including Professor Francisca Mutapi, Co-Director for Global Health Academy and Deputy Director of Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa (TIBA) partnership, University of Edinburgh; Professor Julian Rayner, Director of Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, University of Cambridge; and Professor Christian Happi, Director of African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), Redeemers University.
WACCBIP has one of the biggest biomedical research training programmes in West Africa, and we are supported by the Government of Ghana through the World Bank African Centers of Excellence project and Wellcome through the DELTAS Africa initiative. Since its establishment in 2014, WACCBIP has provided fellowships to 164 Masters students, 92 PhD students, and 22 Postdoctoral fellows from 14 different African countries. WACCBIP's research has contributed significantly to the response to the current COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana through generation of real time data on genomic sequencing and seroprevalence studies. This work has provided key information on the prevalence of COVID-19 and the distribution of SARS-CoV-2 variants to better inform public health interventions, including infection control measures and vaccine deployment.
The three-day conference provides a valuable opportunity to create direct pathways for the young scientists trained at the Centre to connect with world-renowned scientists and industry professionals. The conference will also showcase new scientific knowledge and novel applications of technology, which could lead to the development of new disease diagnostic tools, drugs, and vaccines. The conference will include both in-person and live virtual/online streaming presentations and will attract more than 350 participants from top research institutions & industries in Africa, Europe, and the U.S.A.
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