The West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) will be the host institution for two prestigious training fellowships awarded by the Crick African Network (CAN) to two young scientists.

The two, Dr. Yaw Bediako & Dr. Peter Quarshie, were among only five African post-doctoral scientists selected for the highly competitive African Career Accelerator Awards, which are designed to help early-career researchers make the transition to leading their own research groups in Africa. The fellowships will equip the selected scientists to tackle infectious diseases prevalent in Africa, initially working under the mentorship of group leaders at the Francis Crick Institute with extensive experience conducting research into diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria.
Both Ghanaian, Dr. Bediako and Dr. Quarshie, will, after one year at The Crick, continue their training at WACCBIP, where they will complete their training and their personal research projects.
Dr. Bediako's project, based on observations that people in high disease transmission areas develop partial immunity to malaria, will seek to compare the immunological responses of children in areas known to have high and low malaria transmission over time.

 

Dr. Quarshie seeks to understand the strains of HIV circulating within West Africa, and how they are impacted by current treatment regimes. His study will look to predict how different strains will react to therapy, by mimicking long-term antiretroviral therapy.

Both studies may have important implications for and provide essential insight into vaccine/therapy development. WACCBIP is pleased to provide the fertile ground for the acceleration of the careers of these two top young scientists.

For more on the African Career Accelerator Awards, please visit source at https://www.crick.ac.uk/news/2018-10-31_five-top-african-scientists-awarded-training-fellowships