Abstract: The demand for well-trained bioinformaticians to support genomics research continues to rise. Unfortunately, undergraduate training in Kenya does not prepare students for specialization in bioinformatics. Graduates are often unaware of the career opportunities in bioinformatics, and those who are may lack mentors to help them choose a specialization. The Bioinformatics Mentorship and Incubation Program seeks to bridge the gap by laying the foundation for a bioinformatics training p...
Abstract: In March 2021, following the annual International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) ratification vote on newly proposed taxa, the phylum Negarnaviricota was amended and emended. The phylum was expanded by four families (Aliusviridae, Crepuscuviridae, Myriaviridae, and Natareviridae), three subfamilies (Alpharhabdovirinae, Betarhabdovirinae, and Gammarhabdovirinae), 42 genera, and 200 species. Thirty-nine species were renamed and/or moved and seven species were abolished. This...
Abstract: Microsporidia are spore-forming eukaryotes that are related to fungi but have unique traits that set them apart. They have compact genomes as a result of evolutionary gene loss associated with their complete dependency on hosts for survival. Despite having a relatively small number of genes, a disproportionately high percentage of the genes in microsporidia genomes code for proteins whose functions remain unknown (hypothetical proteins—HPs). Computational annotation of HPs has be...
Ebola virus (EBOV) has recently emerged as a highly virulent organism of concern to humans. The pathology behind the hemorrhagic fever within an EBOV host remains largely unclear, and demands rather novel therapeutics to effectively eradicate this virus. The Niemann-pick type C1 (NPC1) protein cholesterol transporter is required for EBOV entry and internalization into a mammalian host cell. On this premise, an organism’s NPC1 can decide the virus-species specificity. Here, ...