African Tuberculosis Bioinformatics Training Program

Stellenbosch University, Tygerberg

Investigators

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY The African Tuberculosis Bioinformatics Training Program will be a collaborative educational and capacity de- velopment program between the Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, and the Centre for Bioin- formatics and Computational Biology at Stellenbosch University (SU), South Africa. It will include other African partners and US investigators with strong bioinformatics background from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, NIH. During the D71 planning phase, a new Bioinformatics curriculum with emphasis on tuberculosis (TB), along with evaluation criteria, will be devel- oped and approvals obtained for these through the applicable institutional and national bodies. In addition, the planning grant will be used to plan career development activities for trainees and faculty development initiatives for preceptors and low- and middle-income country (LMIC) partners. The network of partners will be expanded to provide one US and one African mentor for each student during the D43 funding. The proposed Training Program will address a dearth of trained bioinformaticians with expertise in TB and other infectious diseases. We propose a MSc program with a vigorous coursework component in statistics, bioinformatics and TB biology followed by a research project mentored by world-class TB scientists to make the biggest impact on the current bioinformatics landscape in Southern Africa. The multidisciplinary nature of bioinformatics encompasses math- ematics, statistics, information technology and biology, and few students are strong in all the components. Con- sequently, many doctoral candidates in bioinformatics are poorly prepared. The proposed program will lay the foundation for better-equipped students necessary for future innovation and leadership in infectious disease research. The MSc program to be developed will include a 6-month lecture block (with topics including Statistics, Bioinformatics and TB Biology). Trainees will then be embedded within the SU host laboratory for 2 months, followed by a visit to the laboratory of a US-based host. The trainees will focus on their research project for the remainder of the degree period. During the D71 planning phase, the content and evaluation criteria for a suite of Career Development Activities will be developed to foster the development of students into independent scien- tists. Further, through consultation with partners in historically disadvantaged institutions in South Africa and other LMIC partners, a program of customized workshops will be developed to strengthen supervisory and men- toring capacity. An important focus of the planning phase will be the development of a monitoring and evaluation plan. In summary, the proposed work will bring together a productive network of TB researchers, bioinformati- cians, US mentors and LMIC partners to develop a TB-focused bioinformatics training program to benefit infec- tious disease research.