Multiple pieces of equipment and consumables donated through TReND in Africa and by research groups in the University of Sussex Life Sciences have been picked for shipment to Yobe State University. They will be used for equipping BioRTC lab.
Dr Mahmoud Bukar Maina, a Research Fellow in Sussex Neuroscience and Outreach Coordinator for TReND, originally called for the lab equipment donations in January 2020. He said “I am surprised by the outpouring support shown by scientists and groups to help us equip a state-of-the-art lab in Nigeria. The donated equipment includes PCR machines, SDS-PAGE and Western blotting equipment, fluorescence microscope, Agarose Gel electrophoresis equipment, cooled incubator and lab fridge and freezer and refrigerated centrifuge, among other things. We will visit Nigeria in 2021 to establish the lab and train local scientists”
“But to get the lab fully equipped, we need more equipment, specifically, gel documentation system for chemiluminescence or fluorescence detection, vibratome and fluorescence plate reader.” Tom Baden, a TReND Director and Professor in Sussex Neuroscience, re-echoed this call on Twitter and asked scientists to spread the word to get the remaining equipment for BioRTC.
In recent work, Dr Maina and colleagues showed that only 8% of Neuroscience publications from Nigeria used techniques like western blotting in the last 20 years. BioRTC hopes to tackle this problem by providing a state-of-the-art space to enable Nigerian scientists to undertake cutting edge research and training in biomedical sciences.