About – WACCBIP

Our History

Who We Are And What We Do

In response to the World Bank’s call for proposals for African Centres of Excellence, the University of Ghana proposed the establishment of the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) at Legon. The proposal was led by faculty from the Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology (BCMB), and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), with support from staff of the University of Ghana Computing Systems (UGCS).

After two rounds of evaluation, including review of the written proposal and a site visit to evaluate existing infrastructure and interview the project leader, the World Bank accepted the proposal for the establishment of WACCBIP in November 2013. Subsequently, the World Bank committed $8 million to support WACCBIP through a financing agreement with the Government of Ghana.

Since 2013, WACCBIP has grown into a leading centre of excellence, building global partnerships with world-class research institutions and funding organisations. Expanding our primary source of funding from the World Bank ACE project, we ensured prolonged sustainability of our programmes by securing additional funding from the Wellcome Trust DELTAS grant and additional grants mobilised by our faculty and collaborators.

We have invested heavily in recruiting some of the greatest scientific minds and have channelled significant resources into creating one of the best environments for the conduct of their scientific research. Prioritising world-class training, we have established our short-term, medium-term, and long-term training programmes, producing yearly cohorts of brilliant scientists at both master’s and doctoral levels.

We have also extended our resources to practising biomedical scientists across the sub-region, who we offer various opportunities to update their skills and knowledge. With a brilliant faculty, a capable secretariat, and well-established mentorship programmes, we have set in place the machinery that will drive the continued growth of our core training and research initiatives.

WACCBIP will continue to channel our efforts towards building the infrastructure and the partnerships that will drive the scientific innovations of the future and help tackle the problems associated with infectious and non-communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.

Our Mission

WACCBIP seeks to improve the diagnosis, prevention, and control of tropical diseases in sub-Saharan Africa by providing advanced-level training and research excellence in cell and molecular biology. Our goal is to become a major hub for biomedical research training & a leading producer of home-grown African science leaders by:

building capacity— providing a full training pipeline—from graduate internships, through Master’s and PhD programmes to postdoctoral mentorship fellowships;

creating an environment for high quality training & development of science leaders;

attracting talented African scientists in the diaspora to return home or build collaborations with scientists on the continent;

providing trainees with the skill-set for independent research in the peculiar research environment in Africa;

building a network of young scientists who would be bonded together through their training and will continue to collaborate as independent scientists; and health professionals