The Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases (CRID) has launched a two-week regional training workshop on the NOMADS amplicon sequencing panel, bringing together 12 researchers and laboratory professionals from Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Organized under the African Center for Vector Genomics (AVecGen) project and the Central Africa Training Platform for Clinical Research (CATCR), the initiative aims to strengthen regional capacity for monitoring antimalarial drug resistance and improving molecular surveillance across Central Africa.
The training focuses on the detection of resistance markers in Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite responsible for the most severe forms of malaria. Participants are receiving both theoretical and hands-on instruction in the use of nanopore sequencing technologies and targeted amplicon sequencing approaches that can support the identification of resistance-associated genetic variants in parasites and vectors.
Opening the workshop at CRID on 2 November, Prof. Charles Wondji, Executive Director of CRID and Principal Investigator of AVecGen, joined experts from the NOMADS team, the Biotechnology Centre of the University of Yaoundé I, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and Cameroon’s National Malaria Control Programme (PNLP). The initiative highlights growing efforts to build regional expertise capable of generating the evidence needed to guide malaria control strategies and strengthen surveillance systems.
A key objective of the programme is to address one of Central Africa’s major public health challenges: the shortage of locally generated genomic data on antimalarial resistance. By equipping researchers with practical sequencing and bioinformatics skills, the workshop seeks to reduce reliance on external laboratories and improve the region’s capacity to detect resistance trends in real time.
Beyond technical training, the initiative is designed to establish a network of future trainers and researchers capable of transferring these skills within their home institutions. By strengthening local expertise in molecular surveillance, CRID and its partners hope to help close longstanding data gaps and support evidence-based responses to emerging resistance threats across Central Africa.