The Francis Crick Institute’s Crick Africa Network has received a £7.5 million ($9.5 million) funding from the British not-for-profit organization LifeArc to help African scientists.
The Francis Crick Institute’s Crick Africa Network has received a £7.5 million ($9.5 million) funding from the British not-for-profit organization LifeArc to help African scientists.
According to the 14 August statement, the most recent financing will continue the program for an additional five years.
The West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens at the University of Ghana, the South African University of Cape Town, and the Medical Research Council Unit at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in The Gambia are among the five African institutions where the Crick Africa Network fellows will conduct their research over a four-year period.
The fellows will have access to the Crick’s platforms and will be able to conduct joint research at LifeArc’s Stevenage and Edinburgh sites. According to the statement, they will also get mentoring and assistance with grant writing, publishing, and research ethics. The fellows will also get assistance in commercialization and translational science from the LifeArc Academic Engagement team.
With funding from a £6 million grant from the Global Challenges Research Fund of the UK Government, the Crick Africa Network was established in 2017 to do research on infectious illnesses.
The network has given fellows grants totaling more than £11.6 million in the inaugural cohort. The program also included the supervision of 97 students, which led to the creation of eight separate research groups, 82 publications, and other results.
Notably, the Crick Africa Network was established after the biotech spin-off Yemaachi Biotechnology was established. The Ghanaian business aims to improve African populations’ access to molecular diagnostic and prognostic cancer tests.
According to its website, the biotech also wants to find novel biomarkers for the early identification of cancer in African populations and create new tools for their diagnosis.
In addition, as part of the one-year Technology Development Fellowship, the Crick Africa Network will now assist African researchers with managing and developing science and technological platforms that are essential to their ability to conduct technical research.