Description: 〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4138491/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4138491/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉H3Africa Consortium -- Rotimi, Charles -- Abayomi, Akin -- Abimiku, Alash'le -- Adabayeri, Victoria May -- Adebamowo, Clement -- Adebiyi, Ezekiel -- Ademola, Adebowale D -- Adeyemo, Adebowale -- Adu, Dwomoa -- Affolabi, Dissou -- Agongo, Godfred -- Ajayi, Samuel -- Akarolo-Anthony, Sally -- Akinyemi, Rufus -- Akpalu, Albert -- Alberts, Marianne -- Alonso Betancourt, Orlando -- Alzohairy, Ahmed Mansour -- Ameni, Gobena -- Amodu, Olukemi -- Anabwani, Gabriel -- Andersen, Kristian -- Arogundade, Fatiu -- Arulogun, Oyedunni -- Asogun, Danny -- Bakare, Rasheed -- Balde, Naby -- Baniecki, Mary Lynn -- Beiswanger, Christine -- Benkahla, Alia -- Bethke, Lara -- Boehnke, Micheal -- Boima, Vincent -- Brandful, James -- Brooks, Andrew I -- Brosius, Frank C -- Brown, Chester -- Bucheton, Bruno -- Burke, David T -- Burnett, Barrington G -- Carrington-Lawrence, Stacy -- Carstens, Nadia -- Chisi, John -- Christoffels, Alan -- Cooper, Richard -- Cordell, Heather -- Crowther, Nigel -- Croxton, Talishiea -- de Vries, Jantina -- Derr, Leslie -- Donkor, Peter -- Doumbia, Seydou -- Duncanson, Audrey -- Ekem, Ivy -- El Sayed, Ahmed -- Engel, Mark E -- Enyaru, John C K -- Everett, Dean -- Fadlelmola, Faisal M -- Fakunle, Eyitayo -- Fischbeck, Kenneth H -- Fischer, Anne -- Folarin, Onikepe -- Gamieldien, Junaid -- Garry, Robert F -- Gaseitsiwe, Simani -- Gbadegesin, Rasheed -- Ghansah, Anita -- Giovanni, Maria -- Goesbeck, Parham -- Gomez-Olive, F Xavier -- Grant, Donald S -- Grewal, Ravnit -- Guyer, Mark -- Hanchard, Neil A -- Happi, Christian T -- Hazelhurst, Scott -- Hennig, Branwen J -- Hertz-, Christiane -- Fowler -- Hide, Winston -- Hilderbrandt, Friedhelm -- Hugo-Hamman, Christopher -- Ibrahim, Muntaser E -- James, Regina -- Jaufeerally-Fakim, Yasmina -- Jenkins, Carolyn -- Jentsch, Ute -- Jiang, Pan-Pan -- Joloba, Moses -- Jongeneel, Victor -- Joubert, Fourie -- Kader, Mukthar -- Kahn, Kathleen -- Kaleebu, Pontiano -- Kapiga, Saidi H -- Kassim, Samar Kamal -- Kasvosve, Ishmael -- Kayondo, Jonathan -- Keavney, Bernard -- Kekitiinwa, Adeodata -- Khan, Sheik Humarr -- Kimmel, Paul -- King, Mary-Claire -- Kleta, Robert -- Koffi, Mathurin -- Kopp, Jeffrey -- Kretzler, Matthias -- Kumuthini, Judit -- Kyobe, Samuel -- Kyobutungi, Catherine -- Lackland, Daniel T -- Lacourciere, Karen A -- Landoure, Guida -- Lawlor, Rita -- Lehner, Thomas -- Lesosky, Maia -- Levitt, Naomi -- Littler, Katherine -- Lombard, Zane -- Loring, Jeanne F -- Lyantagaye, Sylvester -- Macleod, Annette -- Madden, Ebony B -- Mahomva, Chengetai R -- Makani, Julie -- Mamven, Manmak -- Marape, Marape -- Mardon, Graeme -- Marshall, Patricia -- Martin, Darren P -- Masiga, Daniel -- Mason, Robin -- Mate-Kole, Michael -- Matovu, Enock -- Mayige, Mary -- Mayosi, Bongani M -- Mbanya, Jean Claude -- McCurdy, Sheryl A -- McCarthy, Mark I -- McIlleron, Helen -- Mc'Ligeyo, S O -- Merle, Corrine -- Mocumbi, Ana Olga -- Mondo, Charles -- Moran, John V -- Motala, Ayesha -- Moxey-Mims, Marva -- Mpoloka, Wata Sununguko -- Msefula, Chisomo L -- Mthiyane, Thuli -- Mulder, Nicola -- Mulugeta, Gebregziab her -- Mumba, Dieuodonne -- Musuku, John -- Nagdee, Mo -- Nash, Oyekanmi -- Ndiaye, Daouda -- Nguyen, Anh Quynh -- Nicol, Mark -- Nkomazana, Oathokwa -- Norris, Shane -- Nsangi, Betty -- Nyarko, Alexander -- Nyirenda, Moffat -- Obe, Eileen -- Obiakor, Reginald -- Oduro, Abraham -- Ofori-Acquah, Solomon F -- Ogah, Okechukwu -- Ogendo, Stephen -- Ohene-Frempong, Kwaku -- Ojo, Akinlolu -- Olanrewaju, Timothy -- Oli, John -- Osafo, Charlotte -- Ouwe Missi Oukem-Boyer, Odile -- Ovbiagele, Bruce -- Owen, Andrew -- Owolabi, Mayowa Ojo -- Owolabi, Lukman -- Owusu-Dabo, Ellis -- Pare, Guillaume -- Parekh, Rulan -- Patterton, Hugh G -- Penno, Margaret B -- Peterson, Jane -- Pieper, Rembert -- Plange-Rhule, Jacob -- Pollak, Martin -- Puzak, Julia -- Ramesar, Rajkumar S -- Ramsay, Michele -- Rasooly, Rebekah -- Reddy, Shiksha -- Sabeti, Pardis C -- Sagoe, Kwamena -- Salako, Tunde -- Samassekou, Oumar -- Sandhu, Manjinder S -- Sankoh, Osman -- Sarfo, Fred Stephen -- Sarr, Marie -- Shaboodien, Gasnat -- Sidibe, Issa -- Simo, Gustave -- Simuunza, Martin -- Smeeth, Liam -- Sobngwi, Eugene -- Soodyall, Himla -- Sorgho, Hermann -- Sow Bah, Oumou -- Srinivasan, Sudha -- Stein, Dan J -- Susser, Ezra S -- Swanepoel, Carmen -- Tangwa, Godfred -- Tareila, Andrew -- Tastan Bishop, Ozlem -- Tayo, Bamidele -- Tiffin, Nicki -- Tinto, Halidou -- Tobin, Ekaete -- Tollman, Stephen Meir -- Traore, Mahamadou -- Treadwell, Marsha J -- Troyer, Jennifer -- Tsimako-Johnstone, Masego -- Tukei, Vincent -- Ulasi, Ifeoma -- Ulenga, Nzovu -- van Rooyen, Beverley -- Wachinou, Ablo Prudence -- Waddy, Salina P -- Wade, Alisha -- Wayengera, Misaki -- Whitworth, James -- Wideroff, Louise -- Winkler, Cheryl A -- Winnicki, Sarah -- Wonkam, Ambroise -- Yewondwos, Mengistu -- sen, Tadase -- Yozwiak, Nathan -- Zar, Heather -- 085349/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 095009/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 095201/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 098504/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 104111/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- MC_U123292700/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- P20 MD006899/MD/NIMHD NIH HHS/ -- R01 AI104621/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- RG/08/012/25941/British Heart Foundation/United Kingdom -- U01 HG007044/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U41 HG006941/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 AI110398/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG006938/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG006939/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- U54 HG007479/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- UH2 HG007051/HG/NHGRI NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Jun 20;344(6190):1346-8. doi: 10.1126/science.1251546.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24948725" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The discipline of bioinformatics has developed rapidly since the complete sequencing of the first genomes in the 1990s. The development of many high-throughput techniques during the last decades has ensured that bioinformatics has grown into a discipline that overlaps with, and is required for, the modern practice of virtually every field in the life sciences. This has placed a scientific premium on the availability of skilled bioinformaticians, a qualification that is extremely scarce on the African continent. The reasons for this are numerous, although the absence of a skilled bioinformatician at academic institutions to initiate a training process and build sustained capacity seems to be a common African shortcoming. This dearth of bioinformatics expertise has had a knock-on effect on the establishment of many modern high-throughput projects at African institutes, including the comprehensive and systematic analysis of genomes from African populations, which are among the most genetically diverse anywhere on the planet. Recent funding initiatives from the National Institutes of Health and the Wellcome Trust are aimed at ameliorating this shortcoming. In this paper, we discuss the problems that have limited the establishment of the bioinformatics field in Africa, as well as propose specific actions that will help with the education and training of bioinformaticians on the continent. This is an absolute requirement in anticipation of a boom in high-throughput approaches to human health issues unique to data from African populations.

Description: The application of genomics technologies to medicine and biomedical research is increasing in popularity, made possible by new high-throughput genotyping and sequencing technologies and improved data analysis capabilities. Some of the greatest genetic diversity among humans, animals, plants, and microbiota occurs in Africa, yet genomic research outputs from the continent are limited. The Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) initiative was established to drive the development of genomic research for human health in Africa, and through recognition of the critical role of bioinformatics in this process, spurred the establishment of H3ABioNet, a pan-African bioinformatics network for H3Africa. The limitations in bioinformatics capacity on the continent have been a major contributory factor to the lack of notable outputs in high-throughput biology research. Although pockets of high-quality bioinformatics teams have existed previously, the majority of research institutions lack experienced faculty who can train and supervise bioinformatics students. H3ABioNet aims to address this dire need, specifically in the area of human genetics and genomics, but knock-on effects are ensuring this extends to other areas of bioinformatics. Here, we describe the emergence of genomics research and the development of bioinformatics in Africa through H3ABioNet.