This month, we focused our newsletter we focus on the launch of Genomics Africa, a KRISP & DIPLOMICS initiative to provide access to high-quality, output-driven, customer-centric and cost-effective genomics services in Africa . In our newsletter, we highlight the Genomics Africa activities on Human Genomes, Animals & Plants and Pathogens & Microbes. We want to challenge the status quo and allow the genomics revolution to benefit Africa.

KRISP & African Health Flagship Talk by Prof. Frank Slack, Shields Warren Mallinckrodt Professor & Director of the Institute for RNA Medicine, BIDMC, Harvard University, USA, Tuesday, 30 July 2019 (11:00am - 12:00), K-RITH building, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, UKZN, Durban, South Africa. All welcome!

Durban SPARK Innovation Breakfast presentation by Prof. Collen Masimirembwa, President and Chief Scientific Officer: African Institute of Biomedical Science & Technology, Tuesday, 30 July 2019(7:30am - 8:30), K-RITH building, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, UKZN, Durban, South Africa. All welcome!

In order to showcase our services and promote collaboration and we are doing road shows at two other UKZN campus in July. We will be at the Westville campus (29-30 July) and at the Pietermaritzburg Campus (30-31 July).

Hackatron to code Opentrons pipetting robots for DNA amplicons and libraries for Sanger, Illumina & ONT Minion sequencing. Opentrons are open-source pipetting robots for biologists. Flexible, accessible & affordable lab robots allow life scientists to do more science & less pipetting. Programming of the robots use python language. Protocols are coded as open-source and available for the community.

Diabetes is a growing problem in South Africa, but South African Indians are at three times the risk of other race groups. What is more, Diabetes and Ischaemic Heart disease occur at least a decade younger in Indians than in other populations in South Africa. Both these diseases are the leading cause of death within the Indian population. Apart from poor diet and exercise there is a genetic component that leads to increased disease risk.

KRISP, FioCruz, Brazilian Ministry of Health, the Pan American Organization and research centres from UK (Oxford, Birmingham and Edinburgh) established a network for real-time genomic surveillance.

KRISP, Applied Biosystems and Thermo Fisher Scientific collaborate to bring Africa one step closer to realizing the 90-90-90 target by introducing a rapid, reliable, and cost-effective HIV-1 genotyping service in Africa. As part of the introduction, we are running a promotion of ZAR800 (US$ 55) per genotyping test (Jul-Dec 2019). Test can be done in plasma or DBS samples, turn-around time is seven working days.

This month, we focused our newsletter on KRISP on the road. We are criss-crossing the country to showcase our new DNA sequencing and bioinformatics capacity. . In the newsletter, we also cover our high-throughput Sanger and Illumina sequencing services, arapid, reliable and cost effective HIV-1 Drug Resistance Service in Africa and many of our publications on viral outbreaks, mental health and industrial biotechnology.

We recently produced open access phylogenetic typing tools to classify Arboviruses, including Dengue, Zika, Chikungunya and Yellow Fever Virus. These tools are been widely used by the scientific community and were published in Science (2018) and PLoS NTD (2019).

Durban SPARK Innovation Breakfast presentation by Professor Michael Wallach, KRISP Director SPARK Sydney and Regional Director of SPARK Oceania, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Thursday, 27 June 2019(7:30am - 8:30), K-RITH building, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, UKZN, Durban, South Africa. All welcome!

UKZN African Health Flagship, KRISP, DIPLOMICS & Thermo Education Program on Capillary Electrophoresis (i.e. Sanger Sequencing. . Thermo-KRISP Lab, Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, UKZN, Durban, South Africa, 27-28 June 2019. Training is open to University Post-Graduate Students & Technical Staff of Commercial and Academic laboratories. Scholarships available to previously disadvantaged South African learners.

UKZN African Health Flagship, KRISP, DIPLOMICS & Thermo Education Program on Capillary Electrophoresis (i.e. Sanger Sequencing) . Thermo-KRISP Lab, Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, UKZN, Durban, South Africa, 24-25 June 2019. Training is open to University Post-Graduate Students & Technical Staff of Commercial and Academic laboratories. Scholarships available to previously disadvantaged South African learners.

Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) training II on quantitative PCR (qPCR). Thermo-KRISP Lab, Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, UKZN, Durban, South Africa, 21 June 2019. Training is open to post-graduate students and for technical staff of commercial and academic laboratories.

This month, we focused our newsletter on KRISP participation in the largest biotechnology innovation convention in the world, BIO2019. KRISP is part of the official South African delegation and is profiled as an inspiring organization for economic development in South Africa. In the newsletter, we also cover our high-throughput Sanger and Illumina sequencing services, growing bioinformatics team and KRISP & Thermo Fisher Scientific training program in Africa.

Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) training II on quantitative PCR (qPCR). Thermo-KRISP Lab, Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, UKZN, Durban, South Africa, 20 June 2019. Training is open to post-graduate students and for technical staff of commercial and academic laboratories.

Scientists from UKZN's College of Health Sciences and KRISP have received a R12,8 million grant from the South African Medical Research Council and the UK Medical Research Council/Newton Fund for a UK-South Africa joint initiative on mental health.

KRISP is taking part of the BIO 2019 as part of the official South African Delegation. KRISP is also profiled as an inspiring and Bio-innovative organization for Economic and Social Development in South Africa in an official booklet of the South African government.

KRISP takes part of the South African delegation attending the Bio International Convention. In addition, the delegation will include senior representatives of the DST, SAMRC, TIA, CPGR and DIPLOMICS. Together, we will showcase South Africa in the BIO 2019 as one of the most sophisticated, diverse and dynamic emerging market that is open to investment.

This month, we focused our newsletter on Genomics, bioinformatics and artificial intelligence at KRISP. This month newsletter also highlights our travel to the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and a prestigious Royal Society Award to KRISP. We also cover our recent publication on TB and mental health in South Africa and four new training workshops organized with ThermoFisher Scientific.

UKZN African Health Flagship Grants Support Unit discuss about new funding opportunities: AAS and Royal Society FLAIR Fellowship & SAMRC-NIH Calls 2019. Wednesday, 24 April 2019 (1:00pm - 2:00pm), K-RITH building, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, UKZN, Durban, South Africa. All welcome!

Radio interview by Dr. Astrid Treffry-Goatley about the use of story telling of our BMJ Medical Humanities 2019 paper entitled: Community engagement with HIV drug adherence in rural South Africa: a transdisciplinary approach.

The IndabaX is a means with which to experiment with the ways in which we strengthen African machine learning, artificial intelligence and its local communities. KRISP is a sponsor of the Deep Learning IndabaX 2019, 14 to 17 April, South Africa.

KRISP Team Leader Dr. Veron Ramsuran is one of 30 leading scientists to receive the prestigious AAS and UK Royal Society FLAIR Fellowship. The 2019 FLAIR funded scientists were selected from a competitive pool of more than 700 applicants. Their research is diverse, ranging from providing renewable energy solutions and addressing climate change, to tackling food security and targeting health and environmental problems that are most acute for people living in African countries.

KRISP has invested in two high-throughput qPCR equipment (QuantStudio 7 Flex Real Time PCR Systems. We have validated qPCR TaqMan Array Card for many common pathogens and pathogens including panels for Gastrointestinal Panel (38 pathogens), Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) Panel (12 pathogens) and Respiratory Diagnostic Panel (34 pathogens).

KRISP has invested in a new Illumina DNA sequencer, providing access to NGS services using Miseq, NextSeq and HiSeq DNA sequencers. We are now in the position to generate NGS sequencing data at similar price, quality and speed as the international leading genomics centres.

KRISP has invested in two new Sanger DNA sequencers, including the ABI3730xl, which is the largest and most automated Sanger machine in the world. This equipment has 96 capillaries and it is able to produce over 1,500 sequences a day.

This month, we focused our newsletter on the new services and technologies available at KRISP. The newsletter also highlights our educational events (Talks, Wet-Lab and Dry-Lab workshops) and publications, including a paper on the increase of HIV-1 drug resistance in South Africa and another on the use of deep-sequence phylogenies to infer HIV-1 transmission networks

KRISP partner with Thermo Fisher Scientific on an educational program in Africa. As part of this program we organized 5 training workshops on STEM subjects in 2018 and 2019, ranging from PCR, qPCR, DNA sequencing and bioinformatics techniques.

UKZN African Health Flagship Talks by Lynn Woolfrey (DataFirst, University of Cape Town) - Opening up data for social well-being research in South Africa. Thursday, 11 April 2019 (11:00am - 12:00), K-RITH building, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, UKZN, Durban, South Africa. All welcome!