Building pan-African Bioinformatics Capacity
Uganda Virus Research Institute, Division of Entomology & Core Molecular Biology/Bioinformatics Facility
Member Node
The Uganda Virus Research Institute, UVRI, is a leading research institution in East Africa, with a remit involving a broad role in health research on mosquito disease vectors and viral pathogens. It was established in the 1930s with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation for Yellow Fever research and has a distinguished history in arbovirology. Following recognition of the HIV epidemic in the late 1980s the Institute developed several major international collaborations for research on HIV and AIDS and has produced seminal works on the epidemiology, virology, prevention and treatment of HIV in Africa. Other key current research areas include influenza, vaccine preventable infections, entomology, and studies on the impact of chronic co-infections (such as helminths, malaria and HIV) on both infectious and non-communicable disease outcomes. UVRI is a National and WHO regional reference Center for viral and vectorborne diseases. UVRI is involved in various local and international collaborations building expertise in bioinformatics and metagenomics. We are in the process of establishing a center for pathogen metagenomics to help with the resolution of fevers of unknown origins, detection of local outbreaks and identification of new pathogens. The strengths of the Institute and its partnerships, including the MRC Unit include large, well studied, population-based cohorts, experienced data management and statistics units, well-equipped laboratories for clinical, molecular and immunological techniques, experience in maintaining sample archives, and highly experienced research teams.