title: Neurogenomics: Challenges and opportunities for Ghana.
abstract: The application of genomic tools and technologies has shown the potential to help improve healthcare and our understanding of disease mechanisms. While genomic tools are increasingly being applied to research on infectious diseases, malaria and neglected tropical diseases in Africa, an area that has seen little application of genomic approaches on this continent is neuroscience. In this article, we examined the prospects of developing neurogenomics research and its clinical use in Ghana, one of the African countries actively involved in genomics research. We noted that established international research funding sources and foundations in genomic research such as H3ABioNet nodes established at a couple of research centres in Ghana provide excellent platforms for extending the usage of genomic tools and techniques to neuroscience-related research areas. However, existing challenges such as the (i) lack of degree programmes in neuroscience, genomics and bioinformatics; (ii) low availability of infrastructure and appropriately-trained scientists; and (iii) lack of local research funding opportunities, need to be addressed. To promote and safeguard the long-term sustainability of neurogenomics research in the country, the impact of the existing challenges and possible ways of addressing them have been discussed.
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom; Midlands Integrative Biosciences Training Partnership, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Thomas K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Karikari
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, School of Biological Science, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana; Pharmacology, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester LE1 9BH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Quansah
keywords: Africa; Big data; Bioinformatics; Genomics; Ghana; Neurogenomics; Neuroscience; Scientific capacity