Keynote Speakers

Updated Feb. 02, 2011

	Appolinaire Djikeng Bioscience eastern and central Africa (BecA) Hub @ International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, Kenya J Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), Rockville, MD, USA Title: Genomics and metagenomics approaches for infectious diseases surveillance and pathogen discovery. Biography: Dr. Appolinaire Djikeng is Scientist and the Technology Manager of the BecA Hub at the International Livestock Research Institute (Nairobi, Kenya), adjunct scientist (Genomics medicine) at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI, Rockville, Maryland, USA) and Consultant (Advanced Molecular Biology and Genomics) at the Centre International de Reference Chantal Biya (CIRCB, Yaoundé, Cameroon). At the BecA Hub, Dr. Djikeng leads various teams focusing on 1) genomics and metagenomics research and capacity building activities with an emphasis on improving the control of zonootic infectious diseases and pathogen discovery, 2) the acquisition and management of the BecA Hub research technologies platforms and 3) the provision of research related services and the overall laboratory management. In addition to his responsibilities at the BecA Hub, JCVI and CIRCB, Dr. Djikeng also teaches various courses at selected Universities in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia and Cameroon). Prior to joining the BecA-ILRI Hub, Dr. Djikeng was a full-time faculty at the J Craig Venter Institute (JCVI, Rockville, MD, USA). Dr. Djikeng graduated BSC (Hons) and MSC from the University of Yaoundé I (Yaoundé, Cameroon), PhD from Brunel University (London, UK), and conducted postdoctoral research work at Yale University School of Medicine (New Haven, CT, USA).
	Vanessa Hayes J Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) San Diego, CA, USA Title: Mapping genomes from South Africa, what have we learnt? Biography: Vanessa Hayes joined the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) in San Diego as Professor of Genomic Medicine in August 2010. South African born, she was previously head of the Cancer Genetics Group affiliated with the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Her major research focus is to determine how genetic variation impacts disease at the level of population-wide susceptibility, initiation and development, disease cause and outcome. She uses next generation sequencing and high-throughput genotyping technologies to develop extensive genetic databases of human populations to explore the links between diversity and disease. She sequenced the genomes of the first Southern Africans, namely the Archbishop Desmond Tutu and a Kalahari Bushmen to facilitate her research in defining the extent of human diversity. She has also made significant contributions to understanding genetic causes of HIV/AIDS susceptibility in Southern Africa, and genetic susceptibility to prostate cancer in Australian men.
	Winston Hide Harvard School of Public Health Boston, Massachusetts, USA Title: Discovery by data integration: The collaboration meets computational biology. Biography: Winston Hide graduated in Zoology at the University of Wales in 1981, gained a PhD at Temple University in Philadelphia in 1992, and was a post-doctoral fellow in molecular evolution under Wen-Hsuing Li at the the University of Texas in Houston. In addition he performed post doctoral study at Baylor College of Medicine at the Human Genome Centre with Richard Gibbs and also at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington DC. His first paper, published in Nature, was a controversial analysis of rodent evolution - using molecular phylogenetics he questioned the membership of guinea-pigs in the rodentia (Graur, Hide et al. 1991). His first position was as director of genomics at MasPar high performance computer corporation in California. He returned to South Africa to found and direct the South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI) at the University of Western Cape in 1996. He established the first PhD programme in Bioinformatics in Africa and is a founder of the African Society of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and was the first African on the board of the International Society of Computational Biology. At SANBI he founded the Medical Research Council Unit for Bioinformatics Capacity Development and established the WHO regional Training Center for bioinformatics in Africa. He was an author of the National BIotechnology Strategy for South Africa and founded the Government supported South African National Bioinformatics Network. Hide is now Associate Professor of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology in the Department of Biostatistics at Harvard School of Public Health  (HSPH) where he leads development of public health bioinformatics addressing the genomic approaches to public health in the developed and developing worlds. Hide leads the HSPH Bioinformatics Core as scientific director. His current research addresses integration of ‘omics data to deliver clinical translation. He uses standardized approaches to discovery in stem cells and cancer stem cells, host response to pathogens, and complex diseases. An associate of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Hide has recently been appointed to direct the bioinformatics strategy for the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Hide is a keen contributor to the development of Africa’s peoples and is a member of the steering committee of the NIH-Wellcome Trust funded H3 Africa Initiative. Hide has published widely used tools for organisation of gene expression (Burke, Davison et al. 1999),(Kelso, Visagie et al. 2003) and developed novel approaches to in silico complex disease gene discovery (Tiffin, Kelso et al. 2005). His most recent work has determined a role for the microRNA miR-24 in cell cycle regulation (Lal, Navarro et al. 2009) and created an atlas for understanding combinatorial transcription regulation (Ravasi et al 2010).

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