BecA-ILRI Hub installs bioscience lab at Gulu University in Uganda

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Written on Friday, 06 June 2014 13:08

On 5 May 2014, a team of engineers led by BecA-ILRI Hub Capacity Building Senior Scientist Dr Wellington Ekaya, helped set up a modern biosciences laboratory at the Gulu University in Northern Uganda.

Engineers Sam Chiera and James Ndegwa from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) engaged in a week-long installation process of the new bioscience platform which will support the human medicine, veterinary medicine, plant science and basic sciences faculties of the university. The purchase of the equipment for the laboratory was funded by grant of USD 784600.00 from World Bank and Government of Uganda channeled through Uganda National Council for Science and Technology Uganda - Millennium Science Initiative program.

Dr Richard Echodu, Dean Faculty of Science at the university said the laboratory would be particularly useful in the study of plant, animal and human diseases in the post conflict areas of northern Uganda and the region at large.

In 2012, Gulu University lecturers Harriet Angwech and Robert Opiro spent five months at the BecA-ILRI Hub in Nairobi as conducting part of their PhD work on this disease which poses a major constraint to livestock production and is a threat to human life in northern Uganda.

“Our students will no longer have to travel to other institutions to conduct their research” said Professor Calistus Baliddawa, the university’s Deputy Vice Chancellor.

The BecA-Gulu partnership dates back to 2009 when Dr Rob Skilton, team leader of the capacity building program at the BecA-ILRI Hub assisted the university in developing the proposal for the grant that facilitated the purchase of this equipment. To date, the BecA-ILRI Hub has partnered with Gulu in other capacity building activities including supporting research fellows from the institution through the Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund (ABCF) fellowship program; providing training to students through BecA’s annual training workshops; hosting special trainings on lab management; providing technical assistance and advice how to get USD 165,000.00 worth of equipment donations from the Seeding Labs Inc., in the US.

The BecA-Gulu relationship demonstrates the significance placed by the BecA-ILRI Hub on building the capabilities of individual researchers and institutions in Africa to harness biosciences for Africa’s development.

Read more about the BecA-ILRI Hub capacity building program here.

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