CAMRA (Combatting Antimicrobial Resistance in Africa Using Data Science) is a DS-I Africa research hub focused on analyzing clinical and molecular data related to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacterial infections in Nigeria and Rwanda with the aim of translating genomics of AMR to sensitive, rapid diagnostics, and effective therapeutics.
The DS-I Africa program, part of the National Institutes of Health’s Common Fund, designed to leverage data science technologies and prior NIH investments to develop solutions to the continent’s most pressing public health problems.
CAMRA efforts will be divided into two projects: Clinical and Molecular Epidemiology of Antimicrobial Resistance in Invasive Bacteria from Nigerian Children (Project 1) and Translating Genomics of AMR into Diagnostics and Therapeutics (Project 2). Both projects will be supported by CAMRA Admin and DMAC (data management and analysis) cores.
Program Officer
- Brad Newsome, Ph.D.
- Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health
- [email protected]
Core Teams
Admin Core
Principal Investigator
- Christian T. Happi, PhD
Co-Investigator
- Onikepe Abiola Folarin, PhD
Hub Administrator
- Iguosadolo (Dolo) Nosamiefan
Core Objectives
The goal of the CAMRA administrative core is to foster strategic leadership across the research hub that enables the conduct of ethical, focused and collaborative research for the benefit of the African population health and the entire biomedical research community.
The MPIs from the three institutional pillars of the project (JCVI, UNMC, and ACEGID/RUN) will be in charge of the various components of the CAMRA research hub, including the two research projects, the data management and analysis core (DMAC) and the administrative core. The research hub director, Dr. Christian Happi supported by the MPIs, Dr. Stephen Obaro and Dr. Derrick Fouts, will be responsible for the overall direction of the research hub, as well as leading other key personnel towards the success of the project.
The administrative core will conduct bi-annual week-long virtual and in-person training workshops over years one through four at ACEGID and other health care institutions and sites for the broader scientific community, including trainees and scientists from other institutions within and outside the CAMRA research hub. This will be designed to sustain the transfer and dissemination of technological and scientific knowledge obtained and resulting from carrying out projects 1 and 2 together with the DMAC. The research hub will also implement pilot projects that will feed into the main goals of the proposed research hub and align with the objectives of the DS-I Africa program as a whole.
Specific Aims
- Strategic leadership and integration of the Research Hub.
- Streamlined management of pilot projects.
- Managing vital partnerships with the wider scientific and research community.
Data Management &
Analysis Core (DMAC)
Principal Investigator
- Derrick E. Fouts, PhD
Co-Investigator
- Indresh K. Singh, MS
Team
- Idowu Olawoye, MSc (Bioinformatics)
- Yun (Renee) Zhang, PhD (Biostatistics)
- Daniella Matute, MSc (Bioinformatics Engineer)
- Matthew LaPointe, MBA (Website Design)
- Ryan Johnson (Website Development)
Core Objectives
To analyze clinical and molecular data on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacterial infections in Nigeria and Rwanda and to translate the genomics of AMR to sensitive, rapid diagnostics and effective therapeutics.
Specific Aims
- Provide data management, data analysis and data integration for all projects.
- Build cloud based open-source bioinformatics tools for analysis, training and outreach.
- Provide resource sharing and dissemination for all projects to the Africa Open Data Science Platform, and public repositories.
Responsibilities
- DMAC will be responsible for the identification of AMR genes and bacterial strains from whole genome sequence data generated by ACEGID for Project 1.
- The DMAC will also use novel bioinformatics tools to assist in determining the source(s) of MDROs causing human infections and spread of AMR (Project 1) and supporting Project 2 with potentially novel biomarkers for development into diagnostics.
- We will seamlessly interact with the Admin core to support the pilot projects and training of young African scientists to facilitate the successful fulfillment of the goals of the overall hub.