Institute boosts genomics education

By : Adewale Momoh, Akure

Date: 20 August 2025 1:53am WAT

(FILES) In this file photo taken on June 02, 2020 Professor Christian Happi, the director of African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), holds a minipcr thermal cycler, a laboratory apparatus used to amplify segments of DNA during an inspection of facilities at the centre located at the Redeemers University in Ede, southwestern Nigeria. - A new strain of coronavirus, still different from the one found recently in South Africa and England, but which "shares some mutations with the one discovered in the United Kingdom" has been discovered in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa with 200 million inhabitants. Following this discreet announcement, made this week by the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics and Infectious Diseases Research (Acegid), based in Ede, south-west Nigeria, the African Union's health agency, the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), held an emergency meeting. But Professor Christian Happi, the molecular biologist behind the genetic sequencing of this new variant, called for this new discovery not to be "extrapolated", in an interview with AFP. (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP)

Institute of Genomics and Global Health (IGH), Redeemer’s University, has revealed its move to launch the onsite phase of Africa’s first-ever Extended Reality (XR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Genomics Hackathon.

Describing the development as a landmark for scientific education and technological innovation in Africa, the institute stated that the pioneering initiative commenced with 20 of Nigeria’s most promising young scientists, who would converge on the Ede campus of the institution.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Akure, the Ondo State capital, yesterday, the Director of IGH, Prof Christian Happi, emphasised that the young scientists represented the finalists of a larger, hybrid programme designed to revolutionise the teaching of genomics by merging cutting-edge technology with advanced scientific theory.

According to Happi, the hackathon’s first phase was a fully remote, international endeavour that saw over 150 participants from across the globe collaborate in virtual teams for over two weeks, stressing that their task was to tackle a central challenge in modern science education through the usage of XR and AI platforms.

He said: “The on-site phase will conclude with a public Demo Day on Friday, August 22, where the finalists will showcase their final projects: simulations of genomics laboratory processes.”