Cohort Three
June 2021 - September 2021
Participants
Johnny Njogu
Bachelor of Science Applied Bioengineering
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology
The EANBIT Bioinformatics program is a must do for anyone who is serious about research. I came out from school green and I was not sure of how to approach the job market. I was not sure of what to expect or what my interests were. But this program offered mentors like Dr. Caleb and Festus Nyasimi who guided me to discover my interest. I have finally found something that I am passionate about. The program enabled me to be able to draw a roadmap to my future. I am not there yet but I am not where I was before joining the program and for this reason I am sincerely grateful to God for being chosen to go through it. Thank you EANBIT, ICIPE especially MBBU staff and my fellow interns for making my stay there memorable and for the skills that I have gained.
Oscar Mwaura
Bachelor of Science Botany
Pwani University
I took part in the East African Network for Bioinformatics Training (EANBIT) and the Molecular Biology, Bioinformatics and Statistics Unit (MBBU)-organized Bioinformatics Incubation and Mentorship program from June to September 2021 at the icipe. The program provided me with a once-in-a-lifetime chance to learn more about a variety of topics I found challenging in genomics and bioinformatics, gained access to a wealth of resources, forged connections, and honed my programming and analysis skills in an effort to hone my abilities in anticipation of a future career in plant genomics. Because the program was very adaptable and permitted interns to access learning resources for independent study and participate in training sessions with surpivisor and trainer Dr. Caleb Kibet, Festus Nyasimi respectively , I was able to focus on my weak areas.I was able to connect with other interns as well scientists from different discourse communities within the bioinformatics industry thanks to the program's collaborative nature, which helped me study and comprehend theoretical concepts in a fresh approach. By the end of the four-month experience, I had accomplished my objectives and improved my proficiency in several programming languages and bioinformatics genomic analysis. To sum it up, lemmi say, it was a really thorough and entertaining training.
Brenda Kamau
Bachelor of Science Biochemistry
Pwani University
The experience I got as an intern at ICIPE was informative and educational. I was introduced to the culture of problem solving and critical thinking. My expectations for the internship were to be able to analyze genomic data and get to learn programming languages. The expectations were met when I was taught Python and I got to work on a mini project which gave me exposure to analyze genomic data. During the internship I got to improve my interpersonal skills through collaborating on a mini project, presenting in a journal club and weekly meetings and code reviews. I interacted with Bioinformaticians at ICIPE who motivated and also mentored me into the field of Bioinformatics. Many thanks to our instructors during the internship Dr Caleb Kibet and Festus Nyasimi for teaching and supervising.
Dorcus Namikelwa
Bachelor of Science Biochemistry
Kenyatta University
I was introduced to bioinformatics in the last year of my undergraduate studies. This motivated me to apply for the EANBIT bioinformatics internship at icipe to further my experience in this exciting field. The program equipped me with better communication and presentation skills through mandatory participation on science journal clubs and progress meetings. I really appreciated the holistic approach used by the trainers where we worked collaboratively with real life data and performed bioinformatics analysis and explored different platforms. I look forward to put skills acquired to use and pursue a career in bioinformatics.
Parcelli Jepchirchir
Bachelor of Science Biomedical Science and Technology
Chuka University
The Bioinformatics Incubation and Mentorship program at icipe was eye opening for me. I got to discover my love for genomic data analysis. I found the act of taking genomic data, fasta format and transforming it to beautiful meaningful plots quite intriguing .I joined the program with very little experience of Bioinformatics and within the four months got to learn hands on and successfully delivered a mini-project on taxonomic classification of fungal species. The beauty of the internship was the collaborative spirit, positive environment and the growth mentality fostered by the great team at icipe. The program is tailored in a way that allows collaborative peer learning. We were paired to work on the mini-project this allowed us to leverage on our strengths to successfully deliver on the project. The weekly updates, journal clubs and the roadmap truly pushed us to having a growth mindset and to keep learning every day. Learning in an environment with no judgment and a great support from my supervisors,peers and the EANBit fellows was truly fulfilling. I am grateful to EANBit ,Dr. Dan Masiga, Karen Wambui , Dr. Caleb Kibet, Mr. Festus Nyasimi , EANBit fellows together with the Cohort 3 group. It was a great honor to be part of this amazing program. I now continue with my pursuit of gaining mastery in Bioinformatics and to eventually be able to solve the disease burden in Africa.
Projects
Black Soldier fly ribosomal RNA analysis
The Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens, BSF) is a useful tool in valorising organic biomass and other biodegradable wastes. In...
Bee Metagenomics
16s Analysis
Fungi identification
This study aims at identifying fungi species present in the beehives across Madagascar, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya. You can...