A group of scientists from the Department of Pure and Applied Sciences at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, have said they are ready to join the global search for a possible Ebola vaccine.
The deadly Ebola Virus Disease has killed more than 4,000 people in the three Mano River Union countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Presenting their proposals to the University of Sierra Leone at the Tower Hill office in Freetown on Monday, leader of the Applied Sciences Research Group (ASRG), Paschal Egbenda, said their objectives were “to develop chemicals that can destroy the Ebola virus and develop a possible vaccine for it, to develop a quick and robust testing and diagnosis procedure and to carry out epidemiological studies of the disease to control or prevent its transmission”.
Egbenda told the Vice Chancellor that the ASRG started working three months ago. “We’ve been reading around the subject, holding meetings to put our ideas together but we are handicapped because we do not have laboratories in the country to test our ideas”, he said.
Group leader, who is also head of the department of Chemistry, said they had transmitted their ideas to other universities and laboratories, mainly in the United States to be tested. He added that they had received feedback from some of those institutions and individuals, “but we cannot rely on our overseas counterparts...we want the University of Sierra Leone to promote our work by helping to create links with reputable laboratories abroad and the ministry of health”.
USL Vice Chancellor and Principal, Professor Ekundayo Thompson, welcomed the work being undertaken by the ASRG, saying that it was in the area of “knowledge generation that the public wants to hear from us”. He added that during a recent visit to some universities in the UK he made vital contacts which they as a group could eventually exploit by establishing partnerships.
The professor urged scientists from the departments of Chemistry, Physics and Biological sciences at Fourah Bay College to work with their colleagues at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS) to “carry out this good idea which is better late than never”.
Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer of USL, Munda Rogers, announced that a meeting of the scientists from FBC and COMAHS would happen this week after which the initiative would be introduced to the ministry of health.
© Politico 28/10/14
