17 March 2022
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Story André Damons
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Photo Supplied
Dr Nigel Makoah is a lecturer at the Division of Virology at the University of the Free State (UFS) who visited the University of Yaoundé 1 in Cameroon earlier this year.
Dr Nigel Makoah, a lecturer at the
Division of Virology at the University of the Free State (UFS), hopes his visit to the
University of Yaoundé 1 in Cameroon earlier this year, will bring further collaboration between the two institutions that will see the research on zoonotic diseases on the continent accelerated.
Dr Makoah, a candidate of the UFS Emerging Scholars Accelerator Programme (ESAP), visited Cameroon for a zoonoses meeting which brought together scientists in the field of zoonoses to discuss a One Health approach to prevent outbreaks of zoonotic diseases. This was an initiative between the UFS Division of Virology and the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Yaoundé 1. As part of the ESAP, Dr Makoah says the support from the programme is excellent and it fully supported this initiative.
Collaboration important for Africa to prepare for the next pandemic
“I will describe it as successful; it brought together Cameroonian scientists in the field of zoonotic diseases. Before I went to Cameroon, a partnership had already been initiated with the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Yaoundé 1 to collaborate on zoonotic diseases. While in Cameroon, I was introduced to other potential collaborators,” says Dr Makoah.
According to him, collaboration of this nature is important for Africa to prepare for the next pandemic originating from zoonotic viruses. “The aim is to have more partners in the African continent who are willing to work in a consortium to drive the research on zoonoses on the continent so that we are better prepared to respond in the future.
“At the UFS, our research aims at developing tools for serosurveillance and prevention of zoonotic and vector-borne diseases. A zoonosis is an infectious disease that has jumped from a non-human animal to humans. The pathogens may be bacterial, viral, parasitic, or may involve unconventional agents. We at the division of virology are mostly focused on zoonotic viruses, especially those with no treatment or vaccine.
“My research involves designing and producing viral antigens that could be used to develop Immunoassays for serosurveillance or diagnostic or used as candidate vaccines. Furthermore, these antigens may be used to isolate and prepare human monoclonal antibodies for diagnostic or therapeutic applications,” explains Dr Makoah.
Visiting important centres
Before the information session and presentations, Dr Makoah visited two centres of the
Institute for Medical Research and Studies of Medicinal Plants (IMPM), including the Center for Research on Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases (CREMER). The centre’s virologist,
Dr Marcel Tongo Passo spoke of the centre’s different areas of work, namely: exposure of viruses, pathogen discovery, collection of samples in several health centers, genetic resistance of virus, and Africa genome consortium.
“We also went to the production unit for reagents and diagnostic kits (CAMDIAGNOSTIC). This unit is tasked with the production and commercialisation of reagents for biochemistry, hematology, immunology and molecular biology and the development of diagnostic kits for pathology laboratories.
“We then proceeded to the Yaoundé branch of the National Veterinary Laboratory (LANAVET) and were received by the Director General, Dr Wade Abel, who gave us a tour of the well-equipped structure and took us through the mandate of the laboratory. Dr Abel would like to work with the UFS to create protein-based vaccines against animal tuberculosis.”
Dr Makoah also accompanied
Prof Paul Moundipa, Head of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Yaoundé, and Dr Simo Nemg Fredy Brice, on a visit to the
Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases (CRID) where they visited the laboratories and were astonished by the high standard and quality of the laboratory and equipment. The aim of this visit was to discuss their common goals as a path for a future collaboration with CRID.