The Global One Health initiative (GOHi) hosted training for 13 laboratory technology professionals from Ethiopian and Kenyan institutes at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) as part of the OHEART program. Participants came from Addis Ababa University, the University of Gondar, the Kenyan Medical Research Institute and the University of Nairobi from various sectors, including human, animal and environmental studies.
The training aimed to enhance the knowledge and skill of laboratory technologists on phenotypic and genotypic methods of detecting foodborne and waterborne pathogens. Through this two-week training, participants learned about basic phenotypic pathogen detection methods to advance molecular tools, such as conventional PCR, qPCR, wet lab component library preparation, metagenomics data analysis, genomic epidemiology and phylogenetic and phylodynamics.
Sam Kariuki and Robert Onsare from KEMRI, Zelalem Mekuria and Eyasu Tigabu from GOHi and Nídia Trovão from the National Institutes of Health delivered lectures.