Master of Science in Biotechnology

 Programme Aims And Rationale

 

In its agenda Vision 2050, the Government of Rwanda sets a pathway that will lead the country to the living standards of upper middle income by 2035 and high-income countries by 2050. Thus, developing a pole of competence pole in Biotechnology appears to be one of the of the toolkits for strengthening higher learning training, research and innovation, and of positioning the country as a benchmark for the sub-region in the field of Biotechnology, in particular by promoting the generation and production of added value bio-products and bio-processes of economic importance.

The overarching goal of this Master’s Programme is to give a face-lift to the field of Biotechnology which is currently limited to the undergraduate, and tailoring the programme to the national needs and societal demands through improving professional skills the skills in the field.

Currently, most African countries still face shortage human resources in the fields of science and biotechnology. The current model of skills development in Africa does not match labour market demand or development needs. While graduates of many African higher learning institutions are unemployed, significant shortages of skilled labour persist. The mismatch between technological change and training is deplorable in universities in low- and middle-income countries. The challenge is to increase the quantity and quality of graduates through investments in laboratories and human resources for science and technology disciplines whose relevance for development is well established.

Rwanda has enjoyed strong political and economic stability. This has been an invaluable asset to the country that is attracting more and more economic investors. Of these include Biotech and bio-based companies which continue to show growing interest in Africa at large, and Rwanda in particular. It is therefore imperative to build biotechnology capability and prepare a skilled workforce in the field. The government of Rwanda has put in place policies to attract investments. However, even if the curricula offered in applied scientific disciplines are still far from meeting competitive job market, and they mostly suffer insufficient or inadequate know-how training.

The proposed programme goal aligns well with those of the University of Rwanda’s 2018-2025 seven years strategic plan. The programme will also make a substantial contribution towards achievement of the National Vision 2050 as it is very relevant to three out five pillars of the agenda, notably Human Development, Competitiveness and Integration, as well as Agriculture for wealth creation. It will unequivocally contribute to quality inter-disciplinary research, foster quality teaching and learning, and engage the community as it creates a sound platform for strong collaborations and partnerships. Moreover, Biotechnology has been long recognized by the government of Rwanda as an important tool for development, where the 2006 Republic of Rwanda’s Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation clearly considers Biotechnology to be one of the tools that can be used to address development challenges, thus contributing to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The biotechnology highlighted in this policy include molecular diagnostics; recombinant vaccines; vaccine and drug delivery; bioremediation; sequencing pathogen genomes; female controlled protection against sexually transmitted infections; bioinformatics; nutritionally enriched genetically modified crops; recombinant therapeutic proteins; and combinatorial chemistry[1]. Similarly, Biotechnology is recognized as a one of the high-level sectors anticipated to be accelerated the course of Vision 2050[2].

Biotechnology programme has been offered for 20 years in Rwanda, but its overall impact is still inadequate compared to the breadth of its applications and impetus in the state-of-the-art settings and environment. Besides the fact that it was limited to an undergraduate level, the programme has also been facing myriad serious constraints including inadequate infrastructure, lack of skilled human resources, as well as unavailability of research facilities and lack clear direction in line with the national, regional and global agendas. Yet, Biotechnology is already playing a critical role in achieving the SDGs and in underpinning sustainable development. It has tremendous potentials for impacting agriculture and global food security, human and animal health, environmental, and overall livelihood of mankind. Modern biotechnology provides breakthrough products and technologies to combat debilitating and rare diseases, stop the outbreak of infectious diseases, reduce our environmental footprint, relieve poverty, feed the hungry, use less and cleaner energy, provide clean drinking water, protect biological diversity on land and in aquatic ecosystems; and have safer, cleaner and more efficient industrial manufacturing processes. The proposed programme will explore various Biotechnology applications in different fields such as health, agriculture, environment and industry.

 

§ Biotechnology and agriculture

The primary objectives of plant breeding with agricultural and horticultural crops, the domestication of livestock and companion animals to improve yields, nutritional qualities and other traits with commercial value, has inevitably leads humans to efforts to control their reproduction since the dawn. In the case of livestock, the objective of animal husbandry has always been to increase the yield of milk, meat, wool and other products useful to humans. More recently, breeders have focused on the selection of dual purpose (milk and meat) or single-use (milk or meat) breeds, but the main goal remains to create more offspring regardless of the target product. With the emergence of new technologies in recent years, breeders have sought to make the breeding program more efficient by manipulating the breeds. In order to control the sex of animals of interest, flow cytometry is used to separate sperm carrying the fluorescently labelled X chromosome from sperm carrying the fluorescently labelled Y chromosome. This approach has been used successfully in cattle, sheep, horses and pigs. The development of combined with targeted modification of the genome by genetic engineering techniques has revolutionized science and boosted the applications of biotechnology in the selection and production of species with added value food or clinics. The most attractive strategy for meeting challenge of growing global population consists of increasing agricultural productivity. Biotechnology has the potential to increase this production and reduce food insecurity. It offers a wide range of possibilities for increasing productivity, diversification and the development of much more sustainable agriculture. This technology includes the production of biopesticides, plant tissue culture techniques and the use of advanced molecular biology techniques for plant transformation, genomics coupled with plant breeding and disease diagnostics. The plant breeding paradigm has seen enormous success globally, with examples such as the development of hybrid maize, the introduction of varieties of wheat and rice, the Green Revolution, and the recent commercialization of transgenic crops. Furthermore, the use of biotechnologies in the in vitro culture of cultivated plants and symbiotic organisms such as mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing bacteria opens up a very wide field of research and applications in the field of perspective of increasing soil fertility.

In Rwanda, Biotechnology would help advance research and applications in different dimensions in areas of agriculture and food safety such: 

- Diagnosis and control of plant and animal diseases,

- Food and feed safety (detection of microbes and mycotoxins, pesticides, ….)

- Seed and food fraud detection

- Identification of molecular markers for breeding programs for important traits such as yield, biofortification, drought tolerance and resistance to pests and diseases,

- Plant tissue culture to produce stress tolerant lines and cultivars,

- Characterization of germplasm collections/varieties in Maize, potato, banana, beans,…

- Identification of useful soil microbes such as Metarhizium anisopliae, Beauveria bassiana, entomopathogenic fungi, biocontrol microorganisms, …

- Genetic engineering to generate crops resistant to pests and diseases in major crops (Cassava, Banana, maize, potato,)

- Testing of genetically engineered crops (GMO) and GMO contents in food stuffs (maize, soybean, rice, …).

 

§ Biotechnology and health

Healthcare biotechnology refers to a medicinal or diagnostic product or a vaccine that consists of or has been produced in living organisms and can be manufactured via recombinant DNA technology. Since the human genome sequencing completed, which is itself a feat of biotechnology, work on the interpretation and analysis of data has revealed approximately 25,000 genes, of which the mutation out of nearly 3,000 has been associated with diseases[3]. It is expected that detailed knowledge of the human genome will provide new avenues for the medicine advancements. For example, the aetiologies of cancers, Alzheimer's disease and other areas of clinical interest are likely to benefit from information on the genome and could potentially lead to significant advances in their long-term management. Also, unique, targeted and personalized therapeutic and diagnostic solutions are now possible. The use of scientific knowledge generated in various disciplines of the life sciences has made it possible to create biotechnology tools which make it possible to face up defiance in medicine, in particular in gene and cell therapy as well as for diagnosis.

Biotechnology offers a variety of new solutions such: Unique, targeted and personalized therapeutic and diagnostic solutions for particular diseases or illness, an unlimited amount of potentially safer products, superior therapeutics and diagnostic approaches, higher clinical effectiveness because of the biological basis of the disease being known. Development of vaccines for immunity, Treatment of diseases, Cultured Stem Cells and Bone Marrow Transplantation, Skin related ailments and use of cultured cell, Genetic Counselling, Forensic Medicine, Gene Probes, Genetic Fingerprinting, Karyotyping.

Moreover, the very recent COVID-19 outbreak has reaffirmed the pivotal role of Biotechnology to human society. Today, leaders from across the globe are leaning on biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies with hopes of possible solutions for the COVID-19 pandemic that range from diagnostic assays and therapeutics to prophylactic vaccines. When SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, scientists across the globe scrambled to find diagnosis methods, drugs and vaccines. However, only those with strong scientific acumen and from strong institutions were able to develop useful methods that are currently used globally in diagnosis, screening and surveillance of the diseases. Similarly, vaccines have been rolled out worldwide thanks to scientific advances and efforts in the area of Biotechnology, while drugs to specifically target the COVID-19 causal virus are still unavailable.

In Rwanda, strengthening Biotechnology would lead to development of research and applications in various areas in the field of health. They may include, but not limited to:    

- Diagnostics and surveillance of most life threatening diseases such as infectious diseases (COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis, hepatitis, HIV, NTDs,…), non-communicable diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer), emerging diseases (ebola, zikka,…) and zoonoses (brucellosis, cysticercosis,…)

- Surveillance and monitoring of emergence and spread of Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)

- Quality control of generic drugs and herbal medicines

- Devising and developing improved diagnostic tools of diseases

- Production of recombinant (rDNA) drugs (such as insulin, interleukin, etc.) and vaccines 

- Search for, and development of, new drugs and rDNA-based vaccines.

- Identify molecular markers of diseases

- Genetic testing to document on inherited diseases, carrier screening and their association to bloodlines.

- Epigenetic modifications and their association with complex disorders such as behaviour plasticity including trauma, memory, cancer, autoimmune diseases, addiction as well as neurodegenerative and psychological disorders.

- Genetic Identity Testing for various applications such as Forensics, Population Genetics, Clinical Research and Convicted felon DNA databases.

 

§ Biotechnology and Environment

Serious environmental problems can be solved through the application of modern Biotechnology. The contamination of water and food, and air pollution are major concerns caused by modernization, growth of population, wars and other socio-political instabilities among others.

Conventional microbiology methods for detecting contamination by pathogenic microorganisms still time consuming, which can lead to rapid expansion in the event of an epidemic. For example, cholera is a highly epidemic diarrheal disease that is transmitted to humans through ingestion of contaminated food and water.

It continues to devastate many developing countries where the security of populations where socio-economic conditions poor, sanitation systems and public hygiene are still poor—with shortage of safe drinking water. Technological advances would nowadays allow better control of contamination thanks to molecular methods targeting ATP (adenosine triphosphate). EZ-ATP® using Promega reagents for in-line microbial testing can detect up to 50 femto grams / ml ATP in 15 minutes, saving time and labour with regard to sampling and manual analysis.

A scourge that seriously threatens the quality of the environment and public health is contamination by pesticides. Pesticides (insecticides, rat poison, fungicides, and herbicides) are chemical compounds with toxicological and carcinogenic properties, used by farmers to control animals (insects, rodents) or plants (fungi, weeds) deemed harmful to crops. There has recently been a great deal of interest in the use of man-made wetlands for sanitation and the removal of toxic trace elements from wastewater. Wetland plants play an important role in the process of removing these contaminants. However, there is no knowledge of potential wetland plant species with ability to take up these contaminants at the high rates. This knowledge is essential to maximize the effectiveness of the removal of pollutants from wetlands. The major stake here is to proceed, in full knowledge of the facts, to the sanitation of water and crops.

Some areas of Biotechnology application in the field of environment in Rwanda include:

-  Microbial detection in water 

- Spread of Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)

- Characterization of natural resources by DNA fingerprinting, assessment of their relative potential and improvement for enhanced performance to promote conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity,

- Metagenomics of soil borne microbial communities to assess land use and predict the climate change overtime,

- Analysis of microbes capable of degradation of chemical residues in soil and water environment.

- Use of plants and microbial resources for bioremediation, waste recycling and wasteland reclamation.

- Use of plant biotechnology in water and wastewater treatment and recycling.

 

§ Biotechnology and Industry 

Over the years, Biotechnology applications have expanded to include a very wide range of products in the food, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Genetic engineering and molecular biology have proved invaluable not only for the development of products, but also for introducing new and more effective bioprocesses. Biotechnology research focusing on industrial applications can be targeted to a wide range of areas in Rwanda, such as:  a

-      Medicines productions, notably antibiotics, antibodies, vaccines, testing products, enzymes used in treatment and other many other therapeutic products;

-      Food and beverage industry such as production of processing enzymes, Emulsifiers, etc;

-      Textile industry;

-      Paper industry;

-      Etc.