Building pan-African Bioinformatics Capacity
University of Mauritius, Department of Digital Technologies (Member Node)
Established in 1965 by an Act of Parliament to assist in the development of the country, the University of Mauritius (UoM), is the premier University of the Republic of Mauritius. The former College of Agriculture which was set up in 1914 became the foundation stone on which the bases of the UoM were laid. Initially consisting of the Schools of Agriculture, Administration and Industrial Technology, the UoM has grown significantly over the past five decades and presently comprises of the Faculties of Agriculture, Engineering, Law & Management, Science, Social Studies & Humanities, and Information, Communication and Digital Technologies. The University also comprises 6 Centres: Centre for Innovative and Lifelong Learning, Centre for Biomedical and Biomaterials Research, Centre for Professional Legal Studies, Centre for International Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality, Centre for Research on Slavery and Indenture and the Centre for Information Technology and Services. Other units are the Doctoral School, a Knowledge Transfer Office and a Confucius Institute. The UoM is the largest University of the country both in terms of student population and programmes offered, having a student enrolment figure of around 10,500, offering 226 programmes of studies (181 undergraduate programmes and 45 postgraduate programmes) as well as MPhil/PhD programmes. It has a full time staff of about 1000 (with around 300 academic and rest consisting of administrative, technical and support staff). The UoM also employs a significant number of industry professionals on a part time basis to support full time academics.
Prof. Shakuntala Baichoo - Assoc. Professor and Node PI
Shakuntala Baichoo is an Assoc. Professor at the University of Mauritius (UoM), Department of Digital Technologies (FoICDT). She is a computer scientist by training and holds a B.Eng. In Computer Engineering (India), an M.Sc. In Distributed Interactive Systems (UK), and a PhD in Computer Science: thesis in Distributed Systems (Mauritius). As part of her work at the UoM, she is responsible for teaching modules in the area of algorithms design, distributed systems and bioinformatics. She is currently leading the research team in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics and is a member of the Health Informatics research team, at the UoM. She is an investigator (PI or other investigator) on a number locally-funded research projects by the Mauritius Research Council and University of Mauritius in the area of bioinformatics and health informatics. The projects in Bioinformatics range in the areas of comparative genomics and cancer genomics. While the projects in Health Informatics range in the areas of mHealth for Diabetes self-management and real-time disease outbreak detection and surveillance. She has recently started collaborating with the team of Biomaterials, Drug Delivery and Nanotechnology Unit, CBBR, at the UoM and her contribution therein is in the field of predictive analytics. Under this collaboration she is also an innovation partner on a 'Pole of Innovation in Health project' funded by the Mauritius Research Council, headed by the lead of the Biomaterials, Drug Delivery and Nanotechnology. Under this collaboration she is also working in the area of precision medicine, more specifically using machine learning to model targeted breast cancer therapies by taking into consideration various phenotypic and genotypic parameters of the disease. As member of the H3ABionet, (i) she co-chairs the Pipeline & Computing work package, (ii) she is working on the Machine Learning and Big Data projects, (iii) she is a member of the the Development & Deployment of Workflows project, and (iv) she is contributing on the Data and Standards workpackage (including FAIR data) of the H3ABioNet. She is very passionate about coding and in her free time she enjoys learning new programming frameworks and development platforms. When not coding, she enjoys cooking.
BioinformaticsGenomicsComputational BiologyComputer Science Comparative GenomicsData Architecture, Analysis and DesignFunctional Genomics Data MiningData VisualizationData ManagementData Integration and Warehousing Gene and Protein FamiliesMachine LearningSoftware EngineeringWorkflows
Prof. Archana Bhaw-Luximon - Assoc. Professor
Dr Bhaw-Luximon leads the Biomaterials, Drug Delivery and Nanotechnology Unit at the Center for Biomedical and Biomaterials Research (CBBR). This first Research Center of the University was created in 2011. The main focus of the Unit is on the use of biomaterials from land and marine resources to engineer nano-enabled scaffolds for tissue regeneration addressing diabetic wound healing, skeletal tissue regeneration targeting the aging population and cancer regenerative medicine. The Unit also houses the University of Mauritius, Pole of Innovation for Health - MRC funded. She is a Visiting Professor, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, PR China, for the period 2018-2021. Dr Bhaw-Luximon is trained as a polymer chemist and was amongst the first two PhDs in the field of Polymer Chemistry at the University of Mauritius.
Personalized medicineBiomedical Science
Dr. Anisah Wahed Ghoorah - Senior Lecturer
Anisah Ghoorah currently works at the University of Mauritius as a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Information, Communication and Digital Technologies. Before joining the University of Mauritius in 2014, Anisah was a research engineer at the National Research Institute in Computer Science and Automation (Inria), and a research and teaching assistant at the University of Lorraine in France. In 2012, Anisah obtained a PhD in Informatics from the University of Lorraine. The title of her thesis is "Knowledge-based approaches for modelling the 3D structural interactome". Anisah has a MSc in Bioinformatics from the University of Edinburgh and a BSc Computing Science from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. Her research interests lie in structural bioinformatics, in particular, data-driven modeling of protein-protein complexes (docking), knowledge discovery in databases of protein-protein interactions, case-based reasoning applied to homology structure modeling, classification of protein structures and recently network analysis to aid the study of human diseases. Anisah is the original author of Kbdock (http://kbdock.loria.fr), a knowledge-based system for protein-protein docking. Anisah has strong collaboration with the CAPSID research team from the Loria, Inria Nancy in France. Team CAPSID develops algorithms and software to help study biological systems. Anisah is currently working on local and international research projects in genomics, proteomics, and structural bioinformatics among others. Anisah currently co-supervises MPhil/PhD student Eshan Bundhoo, student at University of Mauritius. Eshan's MPhil/PhD project is : Addressing antibiotic resistance by using a molecular and structural bioinformatics approach to the identification of novel drug candidates against selected bacterial proteins. Some selected publications of Anisah are : --Classification and Exploration of 3D Protein Domain Interactions Using Kbdock. Ghoorah, A.W., Devignes, M-D., Smail-Tabbone, M., Ritchie, D.W. (2016). In Methods in Molecular Biology 1415 - Data Mining Techniques for the Life Sciences (Eds. O. Carugo and F. Eisenhaber), 2, 91-105. --Structure-Based Classification and Analysis of Protein Domain Family Binding Sites and Their Interactions. Ghoorah, A.W., Devignes, M-D., Alborzi, S.Z., Smaïl-Tabbone, M., Ritchie, D.W. (2015). Biology 2015; 4: 327-343. --Kbdock 2013: A spatial classification of 3D protein domain family interactions. Ghoorah A.W., Devignes M-D., Smaïl-Tabbone M., and Ritchie D.W. (2014). Nucleic Acids Research 2014; 42(D1): 389-395. --Protein docking using case-based reasoning. Ghoorah A.W., Devignes M-D., Smaïl-Tabbone M., and Ritchie D.W. (2013). PROTEINS: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics 2013; 81(12): 2150-2158. --Spatial clustering of protein binding sites for template-based protein docking. Ghoorah A.W., Devignes M-D., Smaïl-Tabbone M., and Ritchie D.W. (2011). Bioinformatics 2011; 27(20): 2820-7. --jMOTU and Taxonerator: Turning DNA Barcode Sequences into Annotated Operational Taxonomic Units. Jones M., Ghoorah A.W., and Blaxter M. (2011). PLoS One. 2011; 6(4): e19259.
BioinformaticsGenomicsComputational BiologyComputer Science ProteomicsProtein Structure AnalysisGene and Protein FamiliesData Mining Machine LearningData ManagementData Integration and Warehousing Molecular Interactions, Pathways and NetworksProteinsSoftware Engineering Sequence Analysis
Prof. Yasmina Jaufeerally Fakim - Professor
Yasmina Jaufeerally Fakim (YJF) is a professor in biotechnology at the University of Mauritius. She was H3ABioNet PI for the Phase 1 grant and is a co-investigator for Phase 2. YJF has been active in promoting the development and use of bioinformatics in Mauritius and Southern Africa countries through grants from SANBio and H3ABionet. Her research focus is in genomics and bioinformatics. She is currently supervising students working on microbial genomics and molecular docking. She is also part of the H3Africa working group for human genome analysis. YJF has a particular interest in gene and genome evolution. Her group has developed several diagnostic tools for pathogen molecular detection and characterization.
BioinformaticsGenomicsComparative genomicsFunctional Genomics Gene StructureGenetic VariationsGene and Protein Families ImmunologyInfectious DiseaseMicrobiologyMolecular Biology 
Mrs Zahra Mungloo-Dilmohamud - Senior Lecturer
Zahra Mungloo-Dilmohamud is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Digital Technologies at the University of Mauritius. She teaches information systems, computer programming, web design and development using HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, PHP, JavaScript frameworks and Content Management Systems among others. She supervises a number of undergraduate and postgraduate projects in the fields of computing and bioinformatics. Zahra has a BSc (Hons) Physics (first class) from the University of Mauritius, and a MSc Information Technology from the University of Nottingham. She is currently doing her PhD in machine learning applied to transcriptomics data. Her project focuses on extending feature selection methods to biomarker discovery in gene expression profiling for cancer. Her main supervisor is Prof Carlos Pena from the University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland. At the University of Mauritius, Zahra has been an active member of the Bioinformatics Research Group since 2010. Zahra has worked on a number of local and international projects in genomics, evolutionary bioinformatics and structural bioinformatics among others. Zahra has collaborated with a number of Southern African countries on the SANBio (Southern Africa Network for Biosciences) project funded by BioFISA, Finland and the SANBio Bioinformatics node is housed at the University of Mauritius. In addition, she is currently working on the H3ABionet project funded by NIH and NHGRI. Her local projects are funded by the Mauritius Research Council and by the University of Mauritius. Her projects include (i) Setting up a data warehouse for infectious diseases, (ii) Computational analysis for understanding evolution of infectious diseases, (iii) High-performance support framework for bioinformatics (iv)Computational Methods for the Functional Annotation of Hypothetical Proteins in Infectious Diseases and (v) A systematic identification and analysis of disease-related modules in the human protein-protein interaction. The last project focuses on improving our understanding of the relationships between genes, protein functions, structures, interactions and diseases in particular non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular and diabetes.
BioinformaticsGenomicsComparative genomicsComputer Science Computational BiologyData MiningGene ExpressionTranscriptomics Data Integration and WarehousingData ManagementMachine Learning 
Mr Dassen Sathan - Lecturer
I have a degree in B.Eng(Hons) Computer Science from the university of Mauritius which I completed in 2000. I was awarded a post-graduate scholarship by the Government of Mauritius to do my Master in Distributed Interactive System, Lancaster university which I completed in 2001. After that I joined UoM as lecturer in the computer science dept. In 2009 I spent one year in Georgia state university, Atlanta as a Fullbright scholar. And in Jan 2018, I have registered at UoM for an mphil/phd in Bio-Informatics.
Computer Science Bioinformatics 
Dr Smita Goorah - Associate Professor
Dr Smita Goorah, MBBCh, BAO (Queens University, Belfast, 1992), MRCP (Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom, 1998), MSc Educational Technologies (Distinction) (University of Mauritius, 2011) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Mauritius since 2002. Previously, she has worked as a medical practitioner in various hospitals in the United Kingdom in the fields of Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Acute Paediatrics, Neonatology, Community Paediatrics, Paediatric Cardiology, Paediatric Neurology and Paediatric Bone Marrow Transplant Unit from1992-2001. Her research interests are varied and include emerging infectious diseases in Mauritius namely chikungunya fever and dengue fever. Other interests include oncology. She also has a keen interest in using informatics in health care. She has followed a module on E-Health delivered by University of Plymouth in 2009; a short course on Programming with Python delivered by the University of Mauritius in 2014 and a short course on Remote Sensing (ERDAS for geospatial applications) delivered by the University of Mauritius in 2016. She is familiar with R programming. A list of her publications is on ResearchGate.
BioinformaticsGenomicsMedicine Drug MetabolismHaematology VirologyHuman GeneticsImmunology Infectious DiseaseRare Diseases Literature and LanguageMicrobiologyOncologyOntology and Terminology ParasitologyPersonalised MedicinePublic Health and EpidemiologyRNA-Seq Reproductive Health 
Devina Bhookhun Seeruttun - Co-Investigator
I have worked at the University of Mauritius, Faculty of Agriculture in the Agricultural Production and Systems Department for the last 28 years (since 1992) and promoted to Senior Laboratory Officer in 2018. I was posted at the Crop Museum Section I learnt and implemented ways of in situ conservation and collection of species of economical agricultural importance, and biodiversity (endemic or/and worldwide). I was involved in assisting, designing (lab & field based) and implementation of research programmes on leguminous crops as well as in the crop classification and database development and provided support to staff and students training in IT. As I have read for a Master in Biometry (University of Reading UK, 2004), I guide students/researchers in collecting, presenting and analysing data and using statistical software such as SPSS, Excel, Genstat, SAS, R, Minitab and Splus NTSYSpc2.2 and MEGA 6. I have also worked as part time lecturer at the University of Technology (2009-2010, 2011) in these fields -Business communication, Research Methods, Quantitative Methods for Management and University of Mauritius (2011, 2012 & 2014) in the following field- Statistics & Introduction to Quantitative Methods.
BioinformaticsMathematicsStructure Analysis Agricultural Science BiodiversityComparative genomicsComputational BiologyData Quality Management Data VisualisationDatabase ManagementEpigenomicsExperimental Design and Studies Functional GenomicsGene and Protein FamiliesGene ExpressionGene Structure Genetic VariationGenotype and PhenotypeMetagenomics Microbial Ecology MicrobiologyMolecular BiologyPhylogenomicsPhylogenyPlant Biology Population GeneticsProtein Structure AnalysisProteinsWhole Genome Sequencing Sequence AnalysisSequence AssemblyStatistics and ProbabilityRNA-Seq
