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19 July 2018 Photo Supplied
AEVGI advances Next-Generation Sequencing in Africa
Prof George Armah, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, Ghana; Prof Carl Kirkwood, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USA; Cornelius Hagenmeier, Director: Internationalisation, UFS; Prof Gert van Zyl, Dean: Health Sciences; Dr Martin Nyaga, Senior Lecturer in the NGS Unit; Prof Joyce Tsoka-Gwegweni, Vice-Dean: Health Sciences; Dr Glen Taylor, Senior Director: Research and Development; Prof Jeffrey Mphahlele, Vice-President, South African Medical Research Council.

The inaugural edition of the University of the Free State (UFS) Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) Data and Bioinformatics Workshop, hosted by the UFS-NGS Unit in the UFS Faculty of Health Sciences, marked a new beginning for the advancement of NGS in Africa under the auspices of the African Enteric Viruses Genome Initiative (AEVGI), which was recently funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The AEVGI will generate rotavirus genomes at the UFS-NGS Unit to investigate the long-term effects of the introduction of the monovalent RV1 vaccine in three African countries – Ghana, Malawi, and South Africa.

The workshop attracted over 90 participants from 15 national and international institutions, with organisations from seven different countries as well as company representatives attending the event. The workshop kicked off with a courtesy call to the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Petersen, followed by a stakeholder meeting with the executive management of the UFS.

The funding was secured through an award to the principal investigator, Dr Martin Nyaga, and sub-awards to co-investigators, Dr Khuzwayo Jere, Dr Francis Dennis, and Dr Valentine Ndze. According to attendee evaluations of the workshop, the remarkable performance of the workshop instructors was outstanding. Through practical sessions, participants were equipped with knowledge on how to apply several tools of genetic data analysis, using the rotavirus genome as a model to construct and interpret different genomic datasets.

A total of 65 students attended the hands-on workshop, the majority of which were from South African higher-education institutions. The organisers are grateful to the sponsors, particularly to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the University of the Free State, for making the workshop a success. Whitehead Scientific and the South African Medical Research Council also played a major role in the success of the workshop. The local organising committee consisted of Dr Martin Nyaga (host, convener and chair), Dr Saheed Sabiu (secretary), and Mr Stephanus Riekert (principal ICT support).

News Archive

Planetarium now open to the public
2013-11-27

The Naval Hill Planetarium

The Naval Hill Planetarium, the first digital planetarium in sub-Saharan Africa, will now screen regular shows and is inviting members of the public to attend shows every Friday from 29 November 2013.

This planetarium was inaugurated on Friday 1 November 2013 and the response has been overwhelming.

Prof Matie Hoffmann from the Department of Physics at the University of the Free State, says the public and visitors in Bloemfontein are very eager to visit the planetarium to learn more about the night sky.

The highly-rated full dome show, Space Junk, will be screened on Friday 29 November 2013 and Friday 6 December 2013 at the Naval Hill Planetarium.

The Space Junk show at the planetarium collides head-on with Gravity, the blockbuster science-fiction thriller and space drama that was on circuit in movie theatres in South Africa during the past few weeks!

In 2014 the planetarium will provide a regular public programme as from 13 January 2014.

In the meantime, people can book for programmes on Friday evenings at 19:00 until Friday 13 December. Group appointments can also be made by special arrangement.

For more information please contact Yolandie Loots at ficky@ufs.ac.za for more information.

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