NBRDA Hosts Regional Workshop to Advance Molecular Biology Research in West Africa

The National Biotechnology Research and Development Agency (NBRDA), through its Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics Department (GBD), recently hosted a tuition-free three-day practical training workshop on molecular biology techniques as part of the African BioGenome Project (AfricaBP) Open Institute West Africa Regional Workshop.

Declaring the workshop open on behalf of the Director General of NBRDA, Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha, the Director of the Environmental Biotechnology and Bioconservation Department, Dr. Julius Oyedele, emphasised the vital role of molecular biology in advancing scientific innovation, biotechnology development and sustainable growth across West Africa.

In her welcome remarks, the Director of the Genetics, Genomics and Bioinformatics Department, Dr. Shakirat Ajenifujah-Solebo, underscored the urgency of sequencing indigenous biodiversity genomes to strengthen regional scientific knowledge, innovation and conservation efforts.

The second edition of the annual tuition-free training workshop emerged from the NBRDA–AfricaBP BioGenome Project collaboration, aimed at building capacity in genomics, bioinformatics and molecular biology research across Africa.

The collaboration aligns with NBRDA’s strategic goal of establishing a National Genomics and Bioinformatics Data Generation and Repository Infrastructure to support the Nigeria BioGenome Project.

The workshop attracted participants from diverse institutions and professional backgrounds across Nigeria, many of whom expressed satisfaction with the training and emphasised the need to sustain the initiative in order to strengthen scientific capacity development in the region.