In Nigeria, African researchers blaze a trail in virus fight

https://news.yahoo.com/nigeria-african-researchers-blaze-trail-virus-fight-062409481.html


Sophie BOUILLON
,AFP•July 16, 2020


"Strong people don't put others down -- they lift them up."

So says the discreet sign at the entrance to one of the most remarkable research facilities in Africa.

Run by a Cameroon-raised, Harvard-trained molecular biologist, the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) has been at the forefront in the fight of killer diseases such as Ebola, Lassa fever -- and now COVID-19.

The force behind the lab is Professor Christian Happi, who has a steely belief in catapulting young African scientists to the top of scientific research.

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ACEGID'S 52-year-old director has already set down a marker in the battle against coronavirus by devising a low-cost test for the highly contagious disease.

"I want to develop simple, inexpensive solutions that are aligned to Africa and our environment," he said, speaking in his office, its walls decorated with diplomas, awards and photos of his family.

Happi founded his laboratory in 2016 in an ageing building at Redeemer's University in Ede, an unassuming town in southwest Nigeria, with the help of funding from the World Bank and Nigerian and foreign philanthropists.

Since then, nearly 1,000 scientists, most of them Nigerians and the others from West Africa, have passed through its doors to gain top-level experience in biochemistry and genomics.

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