Molecular Approaches to Clinical Microbiology in Africa

Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme, Blantyre, Malawi

Course summary
The course shall provide laboratory training in molecular approaches to clinical bacteriology for microbiologists and research scientists working in clinical diagnostic and research laboratory settings in Africa. The main theme will be the study and interpretation of molecular epidemiology with nucleotide sequence based approaches. This will include exploitation of 16s rRNA sequencing, multilocus sequence typing, VNTR and SNP technology in both clinical and research applications. The course will integrate lectures with laboratory and computer-based practical demonstrations. Application of the approaches in an African setting will be discussed.

PLEASE NOTE: Travel bursaries are available to attend this course, see below for details.

Programme
1. Diversity at the species level: 16sRNA (lead: Dr Claire Jenkins)
2. Diversity at the subspecies level: MLST (lead: Professor Martin Maiden)
3. Indexing diversity of genetically monomorphic bacteria: VNTR and SNPS (lead: Dr Cath Arnold)
4. Identifying the diversity in the laboratory: Real-time PCR
5. Cataloguing and understanding diversity: Bioinformatic approaches

Areas/issues that will be addressed in practicals, demonstrations or lectures:
Specimen collection and contamination problems
Technique discrimination - demonstrate how to choose the appropriate technique
Case studies demonstrating the benefits of 'genetics' over 'culture'.

Course instructors
Professor Martin Maiden (University of Oxford, UK)
Dr Cath Arnold (Health Protection Agency, UK)
Dr Claire Jenkins (Health Protection Agency, UK)

Local organisers (Malawi)
Professor Robert Heyderman
Dr Dean Everett

Cost
There is no course fee for academics/clinicians as all course costs will be met by The Wellcome Trust. Commercial applicants should contact us for the commercial course fee.

Bursaries
Bursaries are available for clinical and academic applicants to cover travel, accommodation and sustenance costs and are subject to open competition.

Applications
Applicants will be required to complete an application form containing their CV together with a 300-word outline of the relevance of the course to their clinical work/research. Please note that documentation supporting their application will be required from the applicant's supervisor/head of department.

Bursaries for Wellcome Trust Advanced Courses
The Wellcome Trust subsidises all courses and workshops, so there are no tuition fees. The ‘course fee' for the UK courses (held at Hinxton) covers on-site accommodation and food for the duration of the course. Bursaries are available to assist with UK course fees, but not travel costs. We are committed to building scientific capacity in developing countries and are expanding the number of courses and workshops run outside of the UK (‘overseas' courses). There is no fee for these courses and bursaries are available for travel, sustenance and accommodation. Please see below for full details.

UK Courses (held at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus in Hinxton)
A limited number of bursaries are available for each course. These are awarded by the selection committee according to merit. The bursary usually covers 50 per cent of the course fee, though in exceptional circumstances an application for the total course fee may be considered. Where there are many bursary applications, the selection committee may issue smaller amounts. We cannot assist with travel costs. All bursary requests to attend UK courses must be accompanied by a bursary application form. This must be completed and signed by your scientific sponsor (supervisor or head of department) and include justification for the bursary. Applicants will be notified of a bursary award along with their place on the course, usually within one month of the application deadline. We will reject incomplete applications. Both the application form and sponsor's letter must be received before the application deadline. The decision of the selection committee is final.

Overseas courses (held outside the UK)
A number of bursaries are available for each overseas course. These are awarded by the selection committee according to merit. There is no course fee.The bursary will cover travel, accommodation and sustenance. The maximum award for travel (in economy/second class) will be £750. All likely travel costs must be detailed in the overseas bursary application form, which must accompany all bursary requests for courses held outside of the UK. We will notify you of the chosen hotel and sustenance award if successful. The selection committee may judge that a partial award should be granted. We will reject incomplete applications. Both the application form and sponsor's letter must be received before the application deadline.