The Africa Centre of Excellence in Neglected Tropical Diseases and Forensic Biotechnology (ACENTDFB), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, has trained more than 150 students from Nigeria and Cameroun on Recombinant DNA Techniques. The training was coordinated by Prof. Andrew J. Nok, Prof. Soerge and Dr T TGbem.
The project also undertook three field programmes in Ngaoundere,Yaounde, Cameroon and Yankari, Nigeria. In Cameroun, human infection with T congolense was identified in a research coordinated by Prof Soerge, Dr TT Gbem and Prof Dan Achukwi. In Nigeria, the Centre embarked on mapping of Tse-tse spread in the game reserves at Yankari, Kamulo and Calabar. This was coordinated by Judith Shaida, a visiting student, who used most of the research work for her PhD in Bremen, Germany.
The research team conducted rabies vaccination in collaboration with the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture, while ACENTDFB students conducted field work on training and distribution of Ivermectin and deworming drugs.
The project has graduated a sandwich student, Dr. Gloria Chechet, who is now a mainstream member of the ACE team. The Centre also published a paper in the European Journal of Pharmacology Idowu et al. 2016)
So far, no fewer than 48 postgraduate students (36 for MSc and 12 PhD, in Biotechnology, have been enrolled.