Cambridge-Africa

Conferences

Wednesday 22nd May 2024

Human Immunology - Genes and Environment

Wellcome Genome Campus, UK and Virtual - 22–24 May 2024

Human immune systems play important roles, either causal or as modifiers of all human diseases. In recent years, new technologies have enabled more accurate descriptions of complex and highly variable human immune systems. This opens up the field to a new approach to investigating immunity directly in human subjects, as a complement to the often-used animal models. By improving the way human immune systems are studied directly and the genetic and environmental basis for disease is accounted for, we will advance all areas of medicine and health given the fundamental importance played by our immune systems.

This new conference aims to bring together researchers from different disciplines of immunology and genetics to address the current state of the field, our current gaps in knowledge around human immune system variation, its underlying basis in the form of genetic and environmental factors of importance and the mechanisms of their action.

This hybrid meeting is intended to foster engagement and networking between researchers and clinicians involved in immunology, genetics and functional genomics. In addition to invited talks by the leaders of the field, the meeting will also feature short oral presentations selected from submitted abstracts, posters and poster pitch talks for a highly interactive meeting.

Registration and deadlines

Bursary
27 February 2024

Abstract
26 March 2024

In-person registration
23 April 2024

Virtual registration
14 May 2024

For more information, registration fee and financial assistance, please see here. Virtual registration is free for delegates froom LMICs.

More Info (coursesandconferences.wellcomeconnectingscience.org)

Sunday 2nd June 2024

Fungal Pathogen Genomics

Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK - 2–7 June 2024

The kingdom of Fungi encompasses a diverse range of organisms adapted to various environmental niches, playing crucial roles in ecosystems, human/animal/plant health, and global food security. Species like FusariumPyriculariaUstilagoPuccinia, and Zymoseptoria, etc. threaten agricultural ecosystems and food security worldwide. Fungal pathogens such as AspergillusCandidaMucorCryptococcusHistoplasmaCoccidioidesBatrachochytrium, and others are of great concern for medical and veterinary professionals due to their potential to cause allergies, illnesses, and life-threatening infections. Furthermore, fungi serve as essential model systems in basic and applied research and play pivotal roles in biotechnology, food production, biomedical and pharmaceutical research and the biofuel industry.

High-throughput ‘omics’ data technologies empower scientists to conduct extensive analyses of the genomes, transcriptomes, proteomes, genetic variance data of a wide array of fungal and oomycete organisms. These analyses are essential for inquiries regarding pathogenicity, host-pathogen interactions, and the discovery of novel drug targets. To enhance accessibility and re-use of data, and facilitate analysis of different types of data, several web-based bioinformatic resources have been developed.

This week-long course represents a collaborative teaching effort involving the following resources dedicated to supporting research on fungal and oomycete species:

  • FungiDB/VEuPathDB 
  • Ensembl Fungi/EBI
  • SGD/CGD 
  • MycoCosm/JGI

The Fungal Pathogen Genomics course offers hands-on training on how to use unique, web-based tools provided by individual resources and apply them to both public and private datasets. Participants will learn to formulate testable hypotheses and explore genomes, functional omics datasets (transcriptomics, SNP, proteomics, etc.) and other data types across multiple databases.

Target audience

This course is aimed at graduate students, postdocs, clinical scientists, clinicians/healthcare professionals or lab heads working on fungal pathogens.

For more infrmation and costs, please see here 

Apply by 29 February 2024

 

More Info (coursesandconferences.wellcomeconnectingscience.org)

Sunday 9th June 2024

Polygenic Risk Score Analysis - Africa, 9–14 June 2024 Kampala, Uganda

Wellcome Connecting Science - 9 - 14 June 2024

The boost in collections of African genomic datasets is providing opportunities for further in-depth understanding of the causes of human diseases. As African genomic data from genome-wide analytical studies continues to grow, it is imperative that African scientists are empowered with skills to analyse these data using the latest tools and approaches for advancing research and genomics applications in Africa and globally. 

This short course will equip scientists based in Africa with tools and approaches for polygenic risk scores (PRS) analysis. The course will cover both applied and theoretical topics in PRS research, delivered across a variety of lectures, tutorials, computational practicals and special guest seminars from experts in the field. By the end of the workshop, attendees should have an in-depth theoretical understanding and practical skills in PRS analysis of global populations. 

The course will begin with an overview of genome-wide association studies, an introduction to PRS analysis, and advanced topics in PRS (e.g., pathway-based PRS, PRS to identify rare variants). This will be followed by the key topic of the ‘PRS Portability Problem’ and how to address it using PRS methods developed for application to diverse and admixed ancestry samples. Finally, attendees will devise, perform and present their research project as part of a group on a topic relevant to the content of the course, with feedback from the workshop team. 

Target audience

Students and scientists based in Africa who are interested in the theory and/or application of polygenic risk scores, important for those undertaking research in: Bioinformatics, Genetic Epidemiology, Population Genetics, Statistical Genetics, Clinical Genetics, and Quantitative Genetics. 

Please see here for more information. The course is funded by Wellcome Connecting Science and is free to attend.

Apply by 5 March 2024

 

More Info (coursesandconferences.wellcomeconnectingscience.org)