PositiveNaija

With a view to introducing DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) extraction laboratory practical in secondary schools across Africa, an Associate Professor of Virology in the Department of Biological Sciences, Covenant University (CU), Dr. Angela Eni has in conjunction with one of her students, Miss Oluwaseunnlafunmi Oke, developed a rapid and inexpensive DNA isolation kit for secondary schools, using locally available materials.

Stating the motive behind the research, Dr. Eni, who is the Team Leader, of the Covenant University Hub of the West African Virus Epidemiology (WAVE) for root and tuber crops, said she observed that both her undergraduate and postgraduate students struggle with molecular biology concepts and techniques mainly because these were not introduced to the students on time and appropriately. This, she said, has been a reoccurring challenge over the years, hence one of the solution would be to bring DNA or the molecular biology studies home to young people in a practical way that they would understand and early enough to capture their interest.

One of the reasons why both secondary schools and some higher institutions in Nigeria do not teach their students DNA extraction, she revealed, is because the kits required for conducting these “young mind entrancing” laboratory practical are either too expensive and/or unavailable in most schools in Africa including some higher institutions unlike elsewhere around the world, where the knowledge of DNA and the huge potentials locked therein is introduced to youngsters in secondary schools.

Based on this realization, she and her student decided to use locally available materials in Nigeria to develop a kit that would allow them introduce DNA extraction as a science laboratory practical in secondary school. However, because her student was working for a B.Sc. in Microbiology degree, it became important that they included some microbiology in her work.

On her next move on the discovery, Dr. Eni said that there were discussions with the Covenant University Centre for Research, Innovation and Discovery (CUCRID) on the need for patency and also, to demonstrate that DNA isolation kit to secondary school students in Nigeria under the platform of a Science Day Programme.

Covenant University (CU) has been ranked Number One (1) globally in some research endeavours and rated among the top 10 in others, based on the latest computations by Elsevier SciVal, the world acclaimed ready-to-use solution that offers easy access to the research performance of 8,500 research institutions and 220 countries worldwide.

This latest rating is a huge boost to the University’s vision of being one of the top 10 universities in the world by the year 2022.

Over 13 million publications for the period 2011-2015 were extracted from the Scopus database, to form 168,092 clusters. SciVal subsequently identified 53 publication clusters in which Covenant University has a significant presence. The 53 publication clusters were grouped into 16 Competencies for Covenant University.

SciVal classified 4 of the 16 Competencies as Distinctive Competencies of Covenant University because they are significantly large fields, and the institution is leading these fields in terms of publications, highly cited publications, and/or innovation.

Indeed, Covenant University, looking at the data from 2011 to 2015 as calculated by Elsevier, was rated World Number One (1) in research endeavours such as (Wind Power, Wind and Turbine) and (Corrosion, Corrosion Inhibitors, Carbon Steel). World Number Two (2) in (Trade, Remittance, Effect) and (Housing; Residential Satisfaction, Satisfaction).

Twelve other areas of emerging competencies were identified.