Ghanaian Professor Awarded $3m NIH Grant to Sequence DNA Of Children With Sickle Cell Disease In Ghana

• Professor Fiifi Ofori-Acquah has been awarded a $3 million grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA
• The UK-trained Ghanaian researcher will use the funds in his research to sequence the whole genome DNA of children with sickle cell disease (SCD) in Ghana
• The sequencing will include the first 500 cases of a target of 1,000 Ghanaian children with severe genetic disorders

Professor Fiifi Ofori-Acquah, the Director of the West African Genetic Medicine Centre (WAGMC), has been awarded a $3 million grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA.

He submitted his application for the grant through the University of Pittsburgh, where he works as an Associate Professor of Medicine and Human Genetics.

Per a report by the University of Ghana, the UK-trained Ghanaian doctor, who is also the Dean of the School of Biomedical and Allied Health Sciences (SBAHS) at the College of Health Sciences, is expected to use the fund in his research to sequence the whole genome DNA of children with sickle cell disease (SCD) in Ghana.

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His DNA sequencing studies will include samples of participants enrolled in the Sickle Cell Disease Genomics of Africa (SickleGenAfrica) Network, an existing $5.4 million NIH project that his team has been working on since 2018.

Professor Ofori-Acquah will collaborate with a team of SickleGenAfrica investigators in Ghana to perform his work.

The new NIH grant will pay for sequencing of the first 500 cases of a target of 1,000 Ghanaian children with severe genetic disorders, he has said.

Ghanaian Lecturer Awarded $100K Grant to Build Learning Platform for Women in Entrepreneurship

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh previously reported that a team led by a Business Administration faculty member at Ashesi University, Jewel Nana Thompson, has been awarded a $100,000 grant to build a digital resource platform.

The platform will help early and medium-stage women entrepreneurs in Africa grow and manage successful businesses.

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Thompson and her team were selected after their project was named by the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneur’s Gender Equality Action Labs.

Source: YEN.com.gh