PROGRAM AT A
GLANCE
(Note: Where there is a difference, please follow your course program)
Date |
Time |
Event |
Venue |
Sunday Oct 29 |
Latest by 8 pm |
Hotel
check-in |
Assigned
hotels |
Monday Oct 30 |
8:00-8:30 |
Opening
Ceremony |
Lake Naivasha Resort, MAIN HALL |
8:30-12:30 |
WORKSHOPS |
Respective
rooms |
|
10:00-10:30 |
Break/Refreshment |
|
|
10:30-12:30 |
WORKSHOPS |
Respective
rooms |
|
12:30-14:00 |
LUNCH |
|
|
14:00-16:00 |
WORKSHOPS |
Respective
rooms |
|
16:00-16:30 |
Break/Refreshment |
|
|
16:30-18:30 |
Workshops |
Respective
rooms |
|
18:30
END |
Back to
hotel |
Respective
hotels |
|
Tuesday Oct 31 |
8:00-8:30 |
Announcements/Start
of program |
Respective
rooms |
8:30-12:30 |
WORKSHOPS |
Respective
rooms |
|
10:00-10:30 |
Break/Refreshment |
|
|
10:30-12:30 |
WORKSHOPS |
Respective
rooms |
|
12:30-14:00 |
LUNCH |
|
|
14:00-16:00 |
WORKSHOPS |
Respective
rooms |
|
16:00-16:30 |
Break/refreshments |
|
|
16:30-18:30 |
WORKSHOPS |
Respective
rooms |
|
18:30
END |
Back to
hotel |
Respective
hotels |
|
Wednesday Nov 1 |
8:00-8:30 |
Announcements/Start
of program |
Respective
rooms |
8:30-10:00 |
WORKSHOPS |
Respective
rooms |
|
10:00-10:30 |
Break/Refreshment |
|
|
10:30-12:30 |
WORKSHOPS |
Respective
rooms |
|
12:30-14:00 |
LUNCH |
|
|
14:00-16:00 |
WORKSHOPS |
Respective
rooms |
|
16:00-16:30 |
Break/refreshments |
|
|
16:30-17:30 |
Workshops |
Respective
rooms |
|
17:30-18:30 |
Workshop
closing ceremony (Lake N. Resort, Main Hall) |
||
|
|
||
18:30-19:30 |
Stakeholders
meeting (Prof. Collins Ouma) |
Courses |
Course Outline |
Instructors |
COURSE
1 Flow Cytometry: Understanding & applications |
This course
outlines key theoretical elements of flow cytometry and provides insight into
how this powerful technology has transformed disease diagnosis, medicine, and
life sciences. The course will highlight how the technology has evolved over
the years and explore future clinical and applications in basic science.
Participants learn about the impacts of the technology on informatics,
automation and clinical diagnostics, as well as quality control and
instrumentation differences across all current commercial technologies. |
Prof. J.
Paul Robinson, Purdue University, USA. |
COURSE
2 Point-of-care diagnostics for resource-limited
settings |
In this course,
participants learn the basics and application of point-of-care (POC) diagnostics,
including the underlying technology of microfluidics, device instrumentation
and measurement techniques, etc. In addition, participants engage in
practical demonstrations and assembly of simple diagnostic devices to give
them practical skill and insights with potential clinical application.
Assembling your own POC diagnostic device will be a great excitement and
motivation to explore innovative solutions for infectious diseases. A variety
of topics, including nucleic acid detection, wearable devices for POC,
impedance spectroscopy-based label-free detection for blood analysis will be
presented by experts in the various fields. |
Prof.
Aman Russom, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden |
COURSE
3 Molecular diagnostics |
This course introduces concepts
and application of molecular diagnostics to infectious diseases. The course
covers advanced new technologies such as proximity ligation assays (PLA) and proximity
extension assays (PEA). Proximity assays are versatile technologies for
protein analyses which can be used to detect proteins with high sensitivity
and specificity in body fluids such as blood plasma and cerebrospinal fluids,
in cell/tissue lysates as well as in cell/tissue sections. They allow for the
detection of proteins, post-translational modifications, and protein-protein
interactions. For example, application of the technology for the detection of
viral immunity against Covid-19 is presented along with recent approaches to
molecular diagnostics for disease diagnosis. The workshop also includes a
hands-on wet lab practical on proximity ligation assay and application to
diagnosis, as well as associated data analysis. Active discussion and creative
thinking are part of the training. |
Prof.
Masood Kamali-Moghaddam, Uppsala University, Sweden |
COURSE
4 New insights into HIV and other emerging viral
infections |
IV/Aids continues to be a major
contributor of healthcare burden in Kenya. Emerging new challenges such as
drug resistance have also become a matter of great concern. To address
trainees to address these challenges, this course examines the state of HIV
infections in Africa and discusses emerging challenges such as antimicrobial
resistance (AMR) and ways to combat them. Industry presentation on this
important topic are led by both trainers from both academia and industry. In
addition, the course challenges trainers to discuss antiretroviral therapy
(ART), with focus on examining progress and challenges in the African
context. For instance, challenges associated with increased life expectancy due
to ART, patients developing non-AIDS complications including cardiovascular
diseases and cancer are highlighted and discussed. A major focus of the
course is on dissemination of new research knowledge with the objective of
contributing to closing the remaining gaps in HIV prevention and management,
as well as to outline future perspectives about AMR and HIV. |
Prof.
Elizabeth Bukusi, Kenya Medical Research Institute, KEMRI, Kenya |
COURSE
5 Parasitic infections and zoonoses |
Parasitic
infections, caused by a diverse array of organisms ranging from protozoa to
helminths, pose a significant threat to human and animal populations
worldwide. These insidious invaders often exploit both human and animal
hosts, creating complex webs of transmission that necessitate
interdisciplinary collaboration for effective control and prevention.
Zoonoses, infectious diseases that can be transmitted between animals and
humans, are particularly relevant in an era of increasing human-animal
interactions. The close proximity between humans and animals, whether in
agricultural settings, urban environments, or through the rise of exotic
pets, has heightened the risk of zoonotic spillover events, demanding a
comprehensive understanding of the interplay between wildlife, domesticated
animals, and human health. This workshop will serve as a platform to explore
the latest research, innovative strategies, and best practices in diagnosing,
treating, and preventing parasitic infections and zoonoses through a
collaborative, multidisciplinary and interactive training approach. It will
entail talks from local and international experts in the fields of
Trypanosomiasis and Malaria research, with practical sessions for hands-on
experience. |
Dr.
Winnie Okeyo, Biotechnology Research Institute-KALRO, Kenya |
COURSE
6 Genomics and bioinformatics |
Continuing advances in DNA sequencing allow huge amounts of data
to be produced from individual genomics, transcriptomics, and other omics
experiments. Their uses in the biological sciences and in health care
continue to expand. However, to analyze and fully exploit these large data
sets, some expertise in bioinformatics and data science is needed. The workshop contains only dry-lab computational work. The main analysis
platform will be RStudio and the statistical programming language R. For
the generic data science analysis part, we will use the R frameworks called
tidyverse and tidymodels. To get the most out of the course, you should
have some prior experience with R. If this is not the case, we recommend
that you take an online (free) R tutorial, such as the primer called “The
Basics” provided by posit (LINK)and/or read an introductory R text, such as “R for Beginners”
by Emmanuel Paradis (LINK). |
Prof.
Daniela Maria Cirillo, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Italy |