The West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) is pleased to announce that the University of Ghana has been awarded two, out of eight fellowships, to leading African scientists under the Crick Africa Network (CAN) African Career Acceleration Programme.
WACCBIP received 22 applications, out of which six were shortlisted and two awarded.
Dr. Jerry Joe Harrison, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Ghana is one of the selected eight African Scientists who have been awarded this year’s fellowship, as part of the second round of fellowships supported by LifeArc, a self-financing medical research charity who are focused on translational research in areas of unmet medical need.
Dr. Harrison’s research focuses on HIV, especially HIV-2, a variant of the virus predominant in West Africa and less studied compared to its HIV-1 counterpart. HIV remains a major public health issue which has contributed to the death of more than 35 million people worldwide. Since the early 1980s, researchers around the world continue to study the mechanism(s) by which the virus infects, and spreads in the body, based on which optimal therapies that enable persons living with HIV, (PLWH), live normal lives have been developed.
Dr. Harrison, who also doubles as the General Secretary of UG-UTAG, will be working predominantly at WACCBIP, to train students in Structural Biology and Medicinal Chemistry as he continues to develop HIV-2 specific inhibitors. His work is expected to contribute to our understanding of how the virus survives and spreads in cells as well as the development of new anti-aids drugs.
The other fellowship was awarded to Dr. Abdouramane Camara, who is returning to the African continent after 13 years and will be working at WACCBIP to develop a new clinical test to evaluate the efficacy of vaccines at an early stage and predict long-term protection. Driven by passion, Dr. Camara has always expressed the desire to return to the continent to establish himself as an independent scientist. Speaking on the opportunity he says
“This comes at a crucial stage of my postdoc, as I had been constantly exploring the possibility of returning to Africa while training in world-class research in Europe over the past 13 years.
I believe it is time for me to return to Africa and contribute to its scientific advancement.”
This is a testament to the world-class research environment that has been created here at WACCBIP and the University of Ghana as well as a part of the broader objective of WACCBIP to facilitate the repatriation of brain drain on the continent.
The Crick African Network is a strategic partnership between the Francis Crick Institute, the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), the University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University, the MRC Unit The Gambia at LSHTM, and the MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit.
The highly competitive African Career Acceleration Fellowships are designed to support top-level African researchers through the transition to becoming independent researchers, helping them to establish research groups and careers on the African continent. The fellows will take part in a four-year training programme spending time at the Francis Crick Institute in the UK, and an African partner institution.
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