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The next chapter for African genomics

Nigeria is poised to become a hub for genetics research, but a few stubborn challenges block the way.
By
  1. Amy Maxmen
Two students in lab coats work at a lab bench

Graduate students at an infectious-disease lab in Ede, Nigeria, use the gene-editing tool CRISPR to detect Lassa virus in blood samples. Credit: Amy Maxmen

In the affluent, beach-side neighbourhoods of Lagos, finance and technology entrepreneurs mingle with investors at art openings and chic restaurants. Now biotech is entering the scene. Thirty-four-year-old Abasi Ene-Obong has been traversing the globe for the past six months, trying to draw investors and collaborators into a venture called 54Gene. Named to reflect the 54 countries in Africa, the genetics company aims to build the continent’s largest biobank, with backing from Silicon Valley venture firms such as Y Combinator and Fifty Years. The first step in that effort is a study, launched earlier this month, to sequence and analyse the genomes of 100,000 Nigerians.

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Nature 578, 350-354 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-00454-1

References

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