Noguchi commissions equipment to boost cell research

The Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) has commissioned advanced equipment that would help in the study of cancer cells and other human cells.

Known as FACS Discover S8 Cell Sorter, it has been described as the only one in Africa and the Middle East and the most advanced for the study of human cells at a single cell level, something which is considered very crucial in a lot of areas of science.

Purchased through the NMIMR’s internally generated funds (IGF), the equipment is expected to help address the practice of diagnostic laboratories sending samples of disease conditions abroad for further studies because the country does not have the advanced equipment to do those studies.

The core of this facility, the BD FACSDiscoverTMS8 Cell Sorter, is the latest generation equipment from its manufacturers, Becton Dickinson (BD) International Ltd, and it has capabilities for studying structures on the cell surface as well as on the inside of the cells (the analysis function).

No need to send samples abroad
 

The Director of the NMIMR, Professor Dorothy Yeboah-Manu, said at the commissioning last Friday that the availability of the equipment was going to enhance work in the diagnostic space.

“Currently, there are a lot of disease conditions that if you go to hospital, they have to send a sample, sometimes, even to South Africa.

“Within Ghana, if someone has cancer, has an infectious disease or other health conditions and we want to see how the body soldiers or the immune cells are behaving for us to diagnose and study the individual, now we don’t need to send the samples outside Ghana, because this equipment will help us to do in-depth studies for us to understand the different disease conditions and infectious diseases,” she explained.

Prof. Yeboah-Manu urged diagnostic laboratories in the country that send their laboratory samples outside not to do so anymore, especially now that the institute has the advanced equipment. 

Refurbished molecular biology suite

The institute also inaugurated its refurbished molecular biology suite, bringing to two the total number of such facilities.

The refurbishment of the facility, which was funded by the government, would strengthen the institute's capacity for disease diagnosis, genetic research and outbreak preparedness. 

Drug discovery

About drug discovery, Prof. Yeboah-Manu said the FACS Discover S8 Cell Sorter could help Ghana and Africa’s quest to develop vaccines, explaining that before vaccines came out, they needed to do vaccine trials to understand how the body's immune response to the vaccine would be.

This equipment would help them to do that analysis.

“This machine has a lot of opportunities for us in terms of health, in terms of vaccine, in terms of even when people are on chemotherapy - the prognosis--, and how their cells are faring.

This machine could help us to analyse them,” she added.

NMIMR progress

The Director of Research, Innovation Directorate of the University of Ghana, Prof. David Dodoo-Arhin, said NMIMR had made a lot of progress in medical research not just in Ghana but globally, and that the addition of the facility would undoubtedly enhance their ability to conduct groundbreaking research, particularly in the areas of immunology, cancer research and infectious diseases.

The Head of the Immunology Department of NMIMR, Prof. Michael Ofori, whose department would be in charge of the equipment, pledged that the equipment would be put to good use, generate enough funding, attract more funding, and also ensure that their output would be increased.

Present at the inauguration of the equipment was the Provost of the College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Prof. Alfred Edwin Yawson, who chaired the function, and a former Director of NMIMR, Prof. Kwadwo Ansah Koram.