A site visit team from the Aids Malignancy Consortium (AMC) Operations and Data Management Centre recently visited the SU Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) and the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) Tygerberg regarding the potential establishment of a centralised biorepository site for sub-Saharan Africa.
The envisaged biorepository will handle biospecimens from patients with HIV-associated malignancies enrolled in AMC clinical trials conducted in Africa, and proactively obtain relevant biospecimens and data for coordinated morphological, proteomic and genomic research and studies on AIDS-related cancer.
The facility will also offer training for African scientists and provide a community outreach portal to educate the public about the implications of biobanking and genomics for the health of African populations.
The envisaged AMC biorepository will be closely linked with the ongoing H3Africa funded project known as the Cape Town H3Africa biorepository which facilitates studies on biodiversity, disease and pharmacogenomics of African populations.
In the photo is the Dean of the FMHS, Prof Jimmy Volmink (front, centre) with the visitors, Faculty staff and members of the Tygerberg NHLS.
