The global distribution and diversity of protein vaccine candidate antigens in the highly virulent Streptococcus pnuemoniae serotype:
- Authors: Cornick, Jennifer E , Tastan Bishop, Özlem , Yalcin, Feyruz , Kiran, Anmol M , Kumwenda, Benjamin , Chaguza, Chrispin , Govindpershad, Shanil , Ousmane, Sani , Senghore, Madikay , du Plessis, Mignon , Pluschke, Gerd, 1952- , Ebruke, Chinelo , McGee, Lesley , Sigaùque , Beutel , Collard, Jean-Marc , Bentley, Stephen D , Kadioglu , Aras , Antonio, Martin , von Gottberg, Anne , French, Neil , Klugman, Keith P , Heyderman, Robert S , Alderson, Mark , Everett, Dean B
- Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148318 , vital:38729 , DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2016.12.037
- Description: Serotype 1 is one of the most common causes of pneumococcal disease worldwide. Pneumococcal protein vaccines are currently being developed as an alternate intervention strategy to pneumococcal conjugate vaccines. Pre-requisites for an efficacious pneumococcal protein vaccine are universal presence and minimal variation of the target antigen in the pneumococcal population, and the capability to induce a robust human immune response. We used in silico analysis to assess the prevalence of seven protein vaccine candidates (CbpA, PcpA, PhtD, PspA, SP0148, SP1912, SP2108) among 445 serotype 1 pneumococci from 26 different countries, across four continents. CbpA (76%), PspA (68%), PhtD (28%), PcpA (11%) were not universally encoded in the study population, and would not provide full coverage against serotype 1.
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- Date Issued: 2017
Bioinformatics education—perspectives and challenges out of Africa
- Authors: Tastan Bishop, Özlem , Adebiyi, Ezekiel F , Alzohairy, Ahmed M , Everett, Dean B , Ghedira, Kais , Ghouila, Amel , Kumuthini, Judit , Mulder, Nicola J , Panji, Sumir , Patterton, Hugh-G
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/123244 , vital:35420 , https://doi.10.1093/bib/bbu022
- Description: The discipline of bioinformatics has developed rapidly since the complete sequencing of the first genomes in the 1990s.The development of many high-throughput techniques during the last decades has ensured that bioinformatics has grown into a discipline that overlaps with, and is required for, the modern practice of virtually every field in the life sciences. This has placed a scientific premium on the availability of skilled bioinformaticians, a qualification that is extremely scarce on the African continent. The reasons for this are numerous, although the absence of a skilled bioinformatician at academic institutions to initiate a training process and build sustained capacity seems to be a common African shortcoming.This dearth of bioinformatics expertise has had a knock-on effect on the establishment of many modern high-throughput projects at African institutes, including the comprehensive and systematic analysis of genomes from African populations, which are among the most genetically diverse anywhere on the planet. Recent funding initiatives from the National Institutes of Health and theWellcomeTrust are aimed at ameliorating this shortcoming. In this paper, we discuss the problems that have limited the establishment of the bioinformatics field in Africa, as well as propose specific actions that will help with the education and training of bioinformaticians on the continent. This is an absolute requirement in anticipation of a boom in high-throughput approaches to human health issues unique to data from African populations.
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- Date Issued: 2014