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VirCapSeq-VERT workshop has brought together participants from historically disadvantaged South African institutions, regional academic centres, and members of the Africa CDC network.

For Clement Gascua Adu-Gyamfi, Head of the TB Research Laboratory at the Eswatini National Public Health Laboratory, attending the VirCapSeq-VERT Workshop at the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) is about more than technical training. It’s an opportunity to strengthen the kind of genomic and surveillance capacity needed to respond to public health threats across Africa. 

Hosted at the CERI Laboratory within Stellenbosch University’s Biomedical Research Institute (BMRI) from 4–12 May, the workshop has brought together participants from historically disadvantaged South African institutions, regional academic centres, and members of the Africa CDC network. Supported by the Skoll Foundation and Columbia University through the Global Alliance for Preventing Pandemics, the training has covered the full VirCapSeq workflow: from wet-lab protocols and hybridisation capture sequencing through to bioinformatic analysis for viral genome identification and outbreak surveillance. 

Clement and his colleague, Nontsikelelo Mkhonta, are attending from Eswatini’s National Public Health Laboratory, where they are leading a large-scale wastewater surveillance project focused on tuberculosis, HIV, and other infectious diseases. 

“Our intention is to link community signals into clinical cases in hospitals,” explains Clement. “We are sampling wastewater across the whole country: clinics, hospitals, factories and market outlets, to identify TB and other human pathogens that could become important public health threats.” 

While Clement already has a strong background in molecular work and sequencing, he says the workshop is helping refine and expand their existing approaches. “We came here to polish our skills and integrate the VirCap protocol into what we are already doing. We believe it can give us a very good yield,” he notes. 

Clement describes the training experience as highly practical and accessible, praising the workshop facilitators for simplifying complex concepts and helping participants troubleshoot their own assays and workflows. “They are breaking down many enigmatic issues into simple ways that everybody can absorb,” he says. “Beyond teaching us what an SOP is, they help us understand the SOPs we are already using. It has been an incredible learning curve so far.” 

For Clement, access to advanced training opportunities and well-equipped research environments remains especially important for smaller countries with limited infrastructure and resources. “Eswatini is a very small country and access is quite limited,” he says. “Being able to connect with well-established institutions that have the faculty, equipment, supplies and facilities is incredibly valuable for us.” 

The workshop is also highlighting CERI’s growing role as a regional hub for genomics training, laboratory capacity development, and collaborative infectious disease research. Through its state-of-the-art facilities and hands-on training environment, CERI is supporting scientists and public health professionals from across the continent in building practical skills that can be directly applied within their own health systems and surveillance programmes. 

As the workshop concludes today, Clement hopes the collaboration will continue well beyond the valuable training gained. “We are very open to collaborations in any form,” he says. “There are many infectious diseases in Eswatini that still need more research attention. We would love to partner with people on grants, training, and research capacity building, not only in TB and HIV, but also in parasitology and other neglected diseases.” 

 

By Katrine Anker-Nilssen

News date: 2026-05-12

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