The FAIS Legacy Project Introduction
The principal aim of the Federation of African Immunological Societies (FAIS) Legacy Project (FLP) is to increase the human capacity for research in immunology and related sciences on the African continent by training 1000 new PhD students over ten years. A secondary aim is to use this training framework to provide a bridge between basic and translational immunology, coupled to industry partnerships, helping to drive scientific discoveries to innovations that touch lives. To achieve these goals, FAIS seeks to build on existing training initiatives within the African continent (such as, DELTAS, EDCTP, ANDi and World Bank Programmes) and combine this with the power of the massive faculty of the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS, > 77,000 members). The design of the project is beautifully simple. From the IUIS, “Each One: Trains One” – individual members recruit one African student who would be partly trained in their laboratories worldwide, and partly in Africa. The necessary infrastructure to facilitate such a programme within Africa already exists. Potential students can be competitively recruited, local PhD supervision and support provided for a “sandwich” PhD programme. Recruitment of PhD students will be strategic, ensuring regional representation within Africa.
Student Feedback
Example of awardee Mohau Steven Makatsa experience in the USA:
Visit to Dr. Mario Roederer’s laboratory, Vaccine Research Center, NIAID/NIH, US
Courses attended
Advanced Flow Cytometry workshop
- standardizing flow cytometry instrument (Calibration, Performance and Monitoring Standards)
- 28 color flow cytometry panel development
- Flow Data Analysis – Data Validation (FlowJo software) and Exploratory tools (FlowAI, FlowSOME, tSNE, UMAP, COMPASS etc.)
- Flow cell sorting
Laboratory work
- Optimized flow panel to investigate cytokine production by different lymphocytes subsets
- Perform whole blood assay on BCG vaccinated macaques
- Run optimized flow panel on BCG vaccinated macaques
Find out more – faislegacyproject.com