My name is Luka Lmelias, I am now studying MSc Bioinformatics on full scholarship at Wageningen University in The Netherlands. I was offered this opportunity after completing a Bioinformatics internship at ICIPE. This Internship was probably the most important transition point in my career, it was the launching pad for my journey in bioinformatics. First, this was where I got introduced to real bioinformatics research. This was very important in opening my research eyes to see how bioinformatics can be applied to improve human well being in terms of agriculture and health care.

Before then, I was passionate about bioinformatics, but I did not have a clear picture of what it was, or how exactly it is being applied to solve real world problems, I didn’t even have the picture of how powerful it is in advancing our understanding of biology. Towards the end of the internship, I applied for admission into MSc Bioinformatics at Wageningen University, and after a few months I was accepted and even more exciting, they invited me to apply for a full scholarship that they were offering to 10 African students (African Scholarship Programme). It was a very competitive program where the applicants were to

demonstrate how their respective fields of study are important or will be game changing to the situation in their home countries and how they will contribute in achieving at least three United Nations Sustainable Developments Goals (UN-SDGs). Exposure to bioinformatics at ICIPE was very vital in the application process because it meant I had a much clear picture of bioinformatics and so I could write concise and clear research goals, eventually I was successful.

Second, we received good hands-on training especially in programming in python, R, and basic understanding of Linux OS. This proved to be handy for me now that I am deep into bioinformatics, most of the courses here assume good programming knowledge, the education system is quite different here, learning is like a marathon, and given I am from a biological background, it is quite a task to keep up with a masters in basically computer science. If I did not receive some introductory training into some of the foundational concepts in programming, I doubt I could have kept up the rate of learning here. I am forever grateful to Dr Caleb and Festus for the time and energy they spent in training us.

We were the first cohort of the bioinformatics internship at ICIPE and two out of five won prestigious full scholarships abroad even before completing the internships. This is but a highlight of how impactful an opportunity of four months can be to the careers of young scientists like me. Thank you ICIPE, thank you NIH Fogarty and every one involved in creating such an opportunity.”