1. Name of applicant(s)
- Mboalab – Represented by Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou
- CAMDIAGNOSTIC – Represented by Rodrigue Foe ESSOMBA
2. Email address (or preferred and reliable way of official contact)
thomasmboa@gmail.com
3. What track are you applying to?
Established Project Track
4. Tell us about your project in one or two sentences
Our project aims to develop a Governmental Framework to strengthen the market of Enzyme made in Cameroon.
5. Describe your project goals and how you expect to achieve them
Mboalab is an established community biology lab for producing low-cost manufacturing of enzymes and scientific equipment alongside educational programmes for biotechnology. We directly addresses the accessibility of reagents in low-resourced contexts by implementing a toolkit for local manufacture of polymerase enzymes in Cameroon that are essential workhorses of molecular biology and can support Cameroonian research and education in biotechnology.
Nowadays, the enzymes produced at Mboalab are ISO 9001 certified; therefore, we offer high quality products at lower cost. Aware of the advantages that our products offer, we wish to have the governmental support, through an agreement with the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation of Cameroon (MINRESI); in order to reinforce our presence on the national and sub-regional market (Central Africa).
6. Approximately how many people would be working on your project?
03 people
- One Full time worker during the project
- Thomas and Rodrigue will work 20% of their time
7. Describe how your organisation will create and manage collaboration with others.
Since the beginning of its local production of enzymes in 2019, Mboalab has initiated exchanges with CAMDIAGNOSTIC; a governmental institution in charge of strengthening the health systems of Cameroon by developing affordable Heath technologies and diagnostics, with the aim to cut off the chain of supply that make Cameroon depend more on foreign manufacturing organisation.
Our constant exchanges with CAMDIAGNOSTIC have led us to meet recently with senior officials of the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation (MINRESI) who advised us to support them in setting up a platform for exchange with the Cameroonian government, around the local production of enzymes.
Beyond Mboalab, CAMDIAGNOSTIC and MINRESI, this platform would also involve
- The Ministry of Health
- The Ministry of Higher Education
- The Ministry of Commerce
- The Agency of Standards and Quality of Cameroon (ANOR)
8. Does your project have representation for a marginalized demographic due to factors such as race, ability, place of birth, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class situation or other identification? If so, how?
No, our project deals with local governemental institutions.
9. What resources / infrastructure do you currently have to support your project?
To support our project, we can count on:
- our experience to convene local stakeholders and lead such discussions;
- our facilities for conferences (conference room, library…) ;
- our technical infrastructures (makerspaces, biology lab….) ;
- The Mboalab is a production node of Beneficial bio
10. What will you use the funds for? Describe your budget. List what you are going to spend it on and how.
The funds will be used:
- to organize a series of consultations with the different actors mentioned in question 7 ;
- for documentation
- to produce the report consolidating the analysis of the exchanges
- for the preparation of the general meeting during which all the actors involved in the consultation process will discuss the report and the regulatory framework that will regulate the market for locally produced enzymes.
Not sure how this question is related to questions 15 & 18
11. How will you share the outcomes your project? What documentation will you provide so that it will benefit the community as a whole? (videos? photos? a how-to?)
Beyond traditional outputs (video, photo, etc.); our main deliverables are around documentation:
- The guide for conducting participatory consultations with local governmental actors. So that, this guide can be reused and applied in a different context or country.
- The report presenting the analysis of the exchanges
All this documentation will be released under the following Creative Commons Licence CC-BY 4.0.
12. How will your project address GOSH’s values of diversity and inclusion?
First of all, we would like to highlight that our consultation procedures will be inspired by two strategic documents written by GOSH:
- The GOSH Roadmap
- Open Hardware is ready to help Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) maximise the impact of academic research
Secondly, It is true that we cannot impose to the governmental institutions who must take to the discussions; but we will communicate to them the goodness of taking into account the gender balance.
Finally, for this project we have a full-time position. Only a woman will be hired in this position, since Thomas and Rodrigue are already men.
13. Are there any conflicts of interest that you wish to declare?
No,
Maybe indirectly, since we are a production node of Beneficial Bio, I am not really sure whether or not, Dr Jenny Molloy is involved in the review process of this grant.
14. Describe your experimental plan, including any new technologies or tools to be developed.
- In collaboration with CAMDIAGNOSTIC, design the guide to run the participatory consultation on the “Governmental Framework to strengthen the market of of Enzyme made in Cameroon”.
- Hold a meeting with the Ministry of Health
- Document the framework and improve the guide
- Hold a meeting with the Ministry of Higher education
- Document the framework and improve the guide
- Hold a meeting the Ministry of Commerce
- Document the framework and improve the guide
- Hold a meeting with the Agency of Standards and Quality of Cameroon (ANOR)
- Document the framework and improve the guide
- Hold a meeting with the Ministry of Scientific Research
- Send to stakeholders, the first draft of the “Governmental Framework to strengthen the market of Enzyme made in Cameroon”.
15. How will the work you describe be performed within the budget and time period allocated for the initial Phase I award? This should include project work time, ramp up and required reporting.
16. What essential milestones will you generate during your Phase I award?
- The guide for conducting participatory consultations with local governmental actors.
- First draft of the “Governmental Framework to strengthen the market of Enzyme made in Cameroon”.
17. If Phase I is successfully completed, what are the next steps
If Phase I is successfully completed, the next step is to organise a general meeting during which all the actors involved in the consultation process will discuss and endorse the first draft of the “Governmental Framework to strengthen the market of Enzyme made in Cameroon”.
18. Please include a brief breakdown of allowable direct costs under the following categories: personnel, supplies, subcontracts, travel, and other expenses (equipment).
@mariafrangos and the review team… I am aware that we are late in applying. This is due to power outage and internet interruption we are facing here, since yesterday. Thanks for your understanding.