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Welcome to another edition of the CERI & KRISP Newsletter. This month we reflect on how much recognition we have received nationally and internationally and reflect about what can be done better and how best to prepare for future threats to global health.

This past month saw the publication of a landmark paper in Science, showcasing the capabilities of African scientists as a collective; members of our team travelling abroad to participate and teach in an international bioinformatics in Senegal and attending the World Health Summit in Berlin.

The importance of driving and encouraging these collaborations to find shared solutions to these collective health challenges and the upskilling of scientists in the global south to a level where they can take the lead, cannot be underestimated. As part of our efforts to reverse the brain drain, we are honoured to announce the return to South Africa of Prof. Frank Tanser, who will direct the Population Health Program at CERI.

Click on the picture above to download the newsletter in PDF format

This issue's highlights are:

The concept behind this newsletter is that anyone with 15 minutes to spare can learn about the work of the Centre for Epidemic Research and Innovation (CERI) at Stellenbosch University and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP), which is a Platform of the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) at University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa.

- News: Prof. Tulio de Oliveira meets a hero, Barack Obama, at the Illumina Genomics Forum, San Diego.

- Publication: The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance, Science publication.

- News: 100,000 coronavirus genomes reveal COVID's evolution in Africa. Nature 2022.

- News: Prof. Frank Tanser joins CERI at SU as Director of Population Health Program

- Feature Piece: An Advocate for Africa, Science and Pulitzer Centre.

- : CERI & KRISP delegation at the World Health Summit, Berlin

- Award: German-Africa Prize won by scientists who identified omicron.

- Workshop: Senegal Bioinformatics Workshop, Dakar, 3-15 October 2022.

- Events: Nobel in Africa: First Nobel in Africa Symposium, 24-28 Oct 2022

- Publication: Ethics and governance challenges related to genomic data sharing in southern Africa: the case of SARS-CoV-2. Lancet Global Health 2022

CERI and KRISP want to want to challenge the status quo and create a scientific environment in South Africa that drives innovations in global health and reverses the brain drain. A critical function of CERI and KRISP will be to make genomics, epigenetics, and bioinformatics accessible to academic, industrial, and commercial users.

News date: 2022-11-01

Links:

http://www.krisp.org.za/manuscripts/CERI_KRISPnewsletter_Vol5(6)_OctNov.pdf