Why?
    We want to understand and control transmission 
                  jdhd
    of infectious diseases in Africa to save lives and 
       protect an already fragile health system
                             How?
               By establishing a continental consortium of key 
               national laboratories, academic and public health 
               institutions to advance outbreak surveillance and 
                         research in Africa
                                           What?
                               Generate and analyze the genomic diversity of 
                              Pathogens in real-time to map the spread of the 
                             disease and characterize its pathogenicity, virulence 
                             and to inform public health preventive and control 
                                           measures.
                             real-time to map the spread of the disease and characterize its 
                             pathogenicity, virulence and to inform public health preventive 
                                        and control measures. 
  Rapid sequencing of Ebola Virus-Summer 2014: Data made 
  public immediately.
    •    First large-scale genome 
         sequence-based analysis of the 
         circulating Ebola viral population 
   •    June 2014: 99 genomes publicly available
   •   Another 150 genomes released between 
       March 2014 and August 2015
    •
      New deep Sequencing Methods for Lassa and  Ebola viruses developed and published immediately for the 
    benefit of the community ( Matranga CB et al. Genome Biol. 15 (2014)
      The data were generated super quickly!
        10 days from sample to Genbank
    Real-time Diagnosis: Key to West Africa Successful Containment of the 2014 Ebola 
                                                                 Outbreak.
                           •   First large-scale genome                        We Developed the First EBOLA RDT
                               sequence-based analysis of the 
                               circulating Ebola viral population 
                             •  June 2014: 99 genomes publicly available
                             • Another 150 genomes released between 
                               March 2014 and August 2015
   Next Generation Sequencing 
   Capacity                                                             st
                                                                       1  Generation Ebola Virus RDT Approved for EU by WHO and US FDA 
                  Real-time PCR
  Next Generation Sequencing of Lassa Virus 
   Next Generation Sequencing of Lassa Virus 
  Genomes
   Genomes
                              • ~400 patient samples
                              • 22 Rodents
                              • Unbiased sequencing - 
                              no specific amplification
                              • Average 1,000X 
                              coverage of Lassa genome