Could you give us a sense of (roughly) what might be possible with various amounts of money? E.g., how much for the solar energy project, how much for supplies for post-graduate students’ studies, grants you had applied for, or other things you’d like to do? I think most of us from Western countries have a very vague sense of how much stuff costs in Nigeria and our guesses are probably pretty wrong in one direction or another.
Thanks Jason for reading my post and for commenting. I am encouraged by this act of kindness.
Commenting encourages one to write more. If you know of funds I can apply to or will be willing to discuss further with. I will be glad to talk with them.
For example, to get a 3kva solar system here in Nigeria would cost between 5000 USD − 10000 USD. This will include the solar panel, batteries, inverter and installation.
Supplies for Post-graduate students: This depends on the project. However majorly, one thing that is lacking here is ability to sequence isolates and the bioinformatics. I would like to provide the platform for students to be able to sequence their organisms as well as learn the bioinformatics aspect.
So in terms of consumables
My lab has two Nanopore sequencers: Consumables for Nanopore sequencing includes
Flow cells a single flow cell would cost 900 USD while a group of 12 will cost 9480
To upgrade to p2 solo sequencing plateform will cost 11000 USD including custom clearance while the flow cell will cost 10500 USD
Library kits barcoding kit 1000 USD(includes custom clearance charges) for 6 reactions. For upto 30 reactions that will be 5000 USD
Qubit for quantification of DNA will cost about 5000 USD
Grants I have applied for in EA infrastructure
I am currently waiting to get a decision on my application to purchase laptops to enable me to train students in bioinformatics.
Once applied to setup a phage bank as well as to be able to track the spread of anti microbial resistant genes in the environment
What I will like to do:
I believe a functional phage bank will have a lot of impact in the health outcome in Nigeria. Why do I think so, I was discussing with a clinician few weeks ago, he told he about a patient he lost because in plateau state there isn’t any capacity to identify pathogens and characterize them. They treated blindly with all manner of antibiotics.
A functional phage lab should be able to identify pathogens(sequencing is the gold standard) and produce phage a for the pathogen.
I hope to be able to constantly isolate phages and store them and be able to make these phages available to the phage community in Nigeria and beyond. Phage sharing is the key to effective phage therapy. To be able to do that one needs a robust phage isolation and purification system
I once applied for grants to allow me visit the phage lab in Belgium to understudy them.
For a robust phage lab(my lab has the basic phage equipments)
We will need
Ultra filtration centrifuge 30000-50000 USD
Media and filters − 10000 USD
Freeze dryer
Lastly, I want to be able to pay students school fees
Thanks—that is really helpful. Although I have little experience in such things, I know that the potential players can differ based on the amount you’re seeking.
One quick thought that comes to mind is whether you could package parts of this and pitch it to donors and foundations interested in science (or “STEM”) education. In other words, rather than emphasizing the benefits of learning about phages to those donors, you would make the grant proposal to them focus on how the supplies will help further about training the next generation of microbiologists in Nigeria.
If your ability to apply for more grants is primarily limited by how much time you have, would it be feasible to hire a graduate student to help you submit more grant proposals? Obviously, you would need funding to hire a part-time assistant, but it’s possible that would be inexpensive enough that more donors might be interested in funding the expansion of your grantwriting efforts, even if they don’t have the capacity to give 5-10K for one the items on your list.
Could you give us a sense of (roughly) what might be possible with various amounts of money? E.g., how much for the solar energy project, how much for supplies for post-graduate students’ studies, grants you had applied for, or other things you’d like to do? I think most of us from Western countries have a very vague sense of how much stuff costs in Nigeria and our guesses are probably pretty wrong in one direction or another.
Thanks Jason for reading my post and for commenting. I am encouraged by this act of kindness. Commenting encourages one to write more. If you know of funds I can apply to or will be willing to discuss further with. I will be glad to talk with them.
For example, to get a 3kva solar system here in Nigeria would cost between 5000 USD − 10000 USD. This will include the solar panel, batteries, inverter and installation.
Supplies for Post-graduate students: This depends on the project. However majorly, one thing that is lacking here is ability to sequence isolates and the bioinformatics. I would like to provide the platform for students to be able to sequence their organisms as well as learn the bioinformatics aspect.
So in terms of consumables
My lab has two Nanopore sequencers: Consumables for Nanopore sequencing includes
Flow cells a single flow cell would cost 900 USD while a group of 12 will cost 9480
To upgrade to p2 solo sequencing plateform will cost 11000 USD including custom clearance while the flow cell will cost 10500 USD
Library kits barcoding kit 1000 USD(includes custom clearance charges) for 6 reactions. For upto 30 reactions that will be 5000 USD
Qubit for quantification of DNA will cost about 5000 USD
Grants I have applied for in EA infrastructure
I am currently waiting to get a decision on my application to purchase laptops to enable me to train students in bioinformatics.
Once applied to setup a phage bank as well as to be able to track the spread of anti microbial resistant genes in the environment
What I will like to do:
I believe a functional phage bank will have a lot of impact in the health outcome in Nigeria. Why do I think so, I was discussing with a clinician few weeks ago, he told he about a patient he lost because in plateau state there isn’t any capacity to identify pathogens and characterize them. They treated blindly with all manner of antibiotics.
A functional phage lab should be able to identify pathogens(sequencing is the gold standard) and produce phage a for the pathogen.
I hope to be able to constantly isolate phages and store them and be able to make these phages available to the phage community in Nigeria and beyond. Phage sharing is the key to effective phage therapy. To be able to do that one needs a robust phage isolation and purification system
I once applied for grants to allow me visit the phage lab in Belgium to understudy them.
For a robust phage lab(my lab has the basic phage equipments)
We will need
Ultra filtration centrifuge 30000-50000 USD
Media and filters − 10000 USD
Freeze dryer
Lastly, I want to be able to pay students school fees
Thanks—that is really helpful. Although I have little experience in such things, I know that the potential players can differ based on the amount you’re seeking.
One quick thought that comes to mind is whether you could package parts of this and pitch it to donors and foundations interested in science (or “STEM”) education. In other words, rather than emphasizing the benefits of learning about phages to those donors, you would make the grant proposal to them focus on how the supplies will help further about training the next generation of microbiologists in Nigeria.
If your ability to apply for more grants is primarily limited by how much time you have, would it be feasible to hire a graduate student to help you submit more grant proposals? Obviously, you would need funding to hire a part-time assistant, but it’s possible that would be inexpensive enough that more donors might be interested in funding the expansion of your grantwriting efforts, even if they don’t have the capacity to give 5-10K for one the items on your list.