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Biotechnology and Bioinformatics
Biotechnology and Bioinformatics Research Directorate (BTBIRD)
About BTBIRD
Research
Researchers at BTBIRD
Contact
About BTBIRD
Biotechnology and Bioinformatics Research Directorate (BTBIRD) was established at AHRI in 2017. The aim of the directorate is improving medical care in Ethiopia by adopting and developing new or improved tools and methods for diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases through various technologies including genomics, bioinformatics, immunology and molecular biology. Further, BTBID works to serve as a hub for technology transfer and capacity building in health biotechnology, genomics and Bioinformatics in universities and research institutes in Ethiopia.
Research
As a cross-cutting directorate, it conducts research in a wide range of topics in collaboration with other directorates at AHRI.
Current areas of research
Preparation and evaluation of in house monoclonal antibodies against commercial antibodies for clinical and research use
Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) preparation
Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) Typing
Identification of anti-cancer molecules from animal products
Development of ELISA based assay for the detection of SARS-CoV-2
SARS-CoV-2 Recombinant protein production from transfected mammalian culture cells
Development of multiplex PCR test for the diagnosis of common granulomatous infectious diseases
Development of qPCR assay targeting MTb cell free DNA in urine and blood for the diagnosis of smear negative pulmonary TB and TB lymphadenitis patients
Development of In house viral load and drug resistance testing for different viral diseases such as HIV, viral Hepatitis
Genomics and bioinformatics analyses of host and or infectious organisms such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and SARS-CoV-2
Staff Profile
Dr. Markos Abebe, PhD Lead Scientist and Director of BTBIRD Email: markos.abebe@ahri.gov.et
Markos Abebe(PhD) is a Lead Scientist at the Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI) and Adjunct Associate Professor of Immunology at Addis Ababa University, Institute of Biotechnology. He received his BSC (in Biology in 1986) and MSc (in Parasitology/Immunology in 2001) from Addis Ababa University. He received his PhD from the University Of Copenhagen, Denmark in 2008 in TB immunology. He attended several relevant trainings in a number of European countries. He received the first AHRI Tore Godal Prize Award in 2001 for his contribution in infectious disease research, particularly on Female Genital Tuberculosis. His main research interest is in understanding the mechanism of host-parasite interaction and identification of biomarkers and development of diagnostics. He received grants from EDCTP and DFG for his postdoctoral research. Dr Markos published a number of scientific papers in peer reviewed journals and advised a number of MSc and PhD students. He is well experienced in research leadership and management and played momentous role in networking local and international research institutes in the advancement of medical research and training in the country. He became member of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences in February 2016. Currently he is leading the Biotechnology and Bioinformatics Research Directorate at AHRI.
Dr Yonas Kassahun Bioinformatician Email: yonas.kassahun@ahri.gov.et
Holds Phd in molecular genetics from university of Dublin, Ireland. During this period, I have worked on bioinformatics and Bayesian based statistical approach implemented for admixture mapping analysis of African cattle hybrid zones. The analysis gave a quantitative measure of the degree of chromosomal mosaicism in hybrid zones, the dynamics of genome introgression and identified regions with some evidence of the imprint of natural selection. My research focused on the application of bioinformatics models of admixture mapping to decipher complex genetic traits analysis. The study highlights for the first time using african cattle breeds to elucidate ancestral differences correlated for genetic susceptibility in Mycobacterium bovis using high density markers covering whole genome. Furthermore, african cattle phylogeography, genetic population structure and relevant quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis were described using bioinformatics inference and in relation to continental reference cattle genome data. Follow up position as postdoctoral fellow at AHRI focused on comparative genomics of M bovis using NGS data, pathogen genomics and bioinformatics training and supervision.
Dawit Hailu Associate Researcher I Email: dawit.hailu@ahri.gov.et
Dawit Hailu obtained his B.Sc. in Biological Sciences from Nagoya University, Japan in 2015. During this time, he worked on identifying novel substrate genes for the E3 ubiquitin ligases Asb 11 and Asb 13 using genetic and biochemistry techniques on mammalian culture cells. Then, he completed his masters at the same university in 2017, where he worked mainly on identifying novel substrate target gene for the Saccharomyces Cerevisiae E3 ubiquitin ligase DIA2, which plays role in invasive growth. Dawit has been trained on sample library preparation for next generation sequencing and is currently working on strengthening the DNA sequencing facility at AHRI together with Biotechnology and Bioinformatics team members.
Bethlehem Adnew Project Data Manager, TBGEN Email: bethlehem.adnew@ahri.gov.et
Bethlehem has earned her BSc Degree from HiLCoE School of Computer Science and Technology in Computer Science and currently studying her MSC Degree in Information Science and Systems at Addis Ababa University. She has worked in Software Development, Oracle Technical Consultancy, IT Management areas and in projects involving machine learning. She has interest in data science areas of big data analytics in Artificial Intelligence and Bioinformatics. Currently she is working in TBGEN Project data management and analytics of the human and bacteria sequenced genomic data and on the establishment of the Bioinformatics center.
Amanuel Zewdu Computer Engineer Email: amanuel.zewdu@ahri.gov.et
Amanuel is a computer Engineer interested in biological (Life) science. He obtained his BSc in Electrical and computer Engineering (Computer Engineering focus area) from Institute of technology, University of Gondar in 2017. His BSc Thesis Project was designing and implementing PDF to speech converting device for visually impaired people. He has a couple of certificates on computer related trainings. He is more interested and wants to pursue his career on machine learning regarding genomics. Currently, he is working in Bioinformatics team as an assistant data manager on a genetics study project called TBGEN.
Melaku Tilahun PhD student Email: melaku.tilahun@ahri.gov.et
Melaku Tilahun is associate researcher at the Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI) .He received BSc degree from Jimma University in Medical Laboratory Science and completed his MSc Degree in Clinical Laboratory Science with Diagnostic and Public Health Microbiology Specialty in Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.