Alkhamis, A. I. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2023

Generation of an induced pluripotent stem cell line from a healthy adult indigenous Nigerian participant

Genetic backgrounds contribute to cellular phenotypes, drug responsiveness, and health outcomes. However, the majority of human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines are derived from individuals of European descent. Thus, there is a major, unmet need in the generation, characterisation, and distribution of iPSCs from diverse ancestries. To begin to address this need, we have generated iPSCs from dermal fibroblasts isolated from a healthy 60-year-old indigenous Nigerian male belonging to the Babur ethnic group. The iPSCs were generated using Sendai virus, and copy number variation (CNV) analysis revealed no new major abnormalities compared to the parental fibroblasts. The iPSCs have been characterised for pluripotency markers and morphology and successfully differentiated into neural progenitor cells and astrocytes. This iPSC line could serve as a healthy control in comparative studies and can be used in disease modelling, toxicity assessments, genetic analyses, and drug discovery processes within an African genetic background. To bolster the inclusion of African models in biomedical research, this iPSC line will be made available to the broader scientific community. Ongoing efforts focus on generating more lines from diverse indigenous populations towards creating a dedicated open-access African iPSC biobank.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Simple Models For Neuroscience Research Discoveries: How Often Are These Models Used In Africa

Simple animal model systems such as Drosophila, Zebrafish, and C. Elegans have enabled numerous breakthroughs in understanding human health and disease. Their conserved biological processes, ever-expanding established procedures for handling, and amenability for molecular and genetic manipulation, in addition to the minimal ethical concerns, have made these models preferred choices in several life science disciplines globally. Owing to their cheap maintenance cost, adopting these model systems will help bridge the research gap between Africa and the Global North and contribute to advancing scientific knowledge in African universities through practical sessions. However, the extent to which these models are used across Africa is unknown. Here, we analysed the use of Drosophila, Zebrafish, and C. elegans model systems in scientific publications from African laboratories from the year 2000 to 2021. Of 1851 PubMed-indexed publications in which at least one simple animal model was mentioned, 168 used at least one of these models for the actual investigation. With an average of 21 articles per country, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia contributed 75% of these studies. The remaining 25% were contributed by seven other countries at 2-7 articles per country. From here, we extracted and analysed information on funding and international collaboration. This revealed that 24.4 % of the studies were exclusively funded locally, 28.57 % exclusively funded internationally, 15.5% received both local and international funding, and the rest (31.5%) were unfunded, revealing that there is satisfactory access to funds for simple animal model studies, especially from external funders. By analysing the pattern of collaborations, we show that most of these studies had international collaborations, while very few collaborated within Africa. Our work provides data on the current state of research using simple model systems in African laboratories and argues that incorporating these models will advance biomedical science research in Africa.

neuroscience↗