October 2022: Uganda animal health fellow Franklin Mayanja, and his mentor from the University of Edinburgh Dr. Bryan Wee, talk about the knowledge exchange during the fellowship. Dr. Bryan Wee is a core scientist at the Roslin Institute, working in the Digital One Health Laboratory with Chancellor's Fellow Dr. Adrian Muwonge (co-director of Fleming Fund Fellowships at the University of Edinburgh). He applies bioinformatics and data analysis techniques to biological and genomic sequencing data to understand the evolution of pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance (AMR) in bacteria. Previously, he worked as a research associate at the University of Queensland in Australia and as a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Ross Fitzgerald (director of the Fleming Fund Fellowships at the University of Edinburgh), where he studied the evolution of important bacterial pathogens such as Legionella and Staphylococcus using whole-genome sequencing data. We asked Bryan to share his experiences as a mentor working with the Fleming Fund fellow in Uganda. Image What were your expectations at the beginning of the mentorship? I was very excited to work with Franklin, who has years of experience as a microbiologist at the National Animal Disease Diagnostics and Epidemiology Centre (NADDEC) in Uganda. I was also very pleased to work with our Ugandan colleagues to learn more about the country and its approach to addressing the problem of AMR. Describe your collaboration with Franklin? Franklin and I have been in regular contact, and since the lifting of travel restrictions, we have been fortunate to be able to travel to each other's countries to work more closely together. During my trip to Uganda, Franklin went out of his way to make me feel very welcome. What was the most valuable lesson you learned during your mentorship? Through mentoring, I have learned a lot about the unique challenges faced by colleagues in Uganda, which helps to improve the delivery of required training. Were your expectations met during the mentorship? Met and exceeded! I had a very enriching and memorable experience. What advice would you give to future fellows? Communicate frequently and appreciate the challenges everyone faces, which may be different from yours. Image Dr. Bryan Wee and Franklin Mayanja in front of the Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda Image Bioinformatics and Sequencing Animal Health fellow Franklin Mayanja Franklin Mayanja is a biomedical laboratory technician working at the National Animal Disease Diagnostic and Epidemiology Centre (NADDEC) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) in Entebbe, Uganda. He has more than 8 years of experience in laboratory diagnosis of animal diseases using both conventional and advanced high-end technologies. His recent work has included addressing the challenges of AMR in Uganda. Franklin has been at the forefront of AMR surveillance in the various districts, training district surveillance officers in the use of mobile technologies to collect AMR data in Uganda. He is a bioinformatics fellow under the Fleming Fund Animal Health Fellowship Programme II and is currently using his bioinformatics skills and knowledge to study AMR genes using various tools. Franklin is using his expertise and knowledge to advise policy makers on the current disease burden in Uganda and to provide technical advice on animal disease control strategies. What were your expectations at the beginning of the fellowship? Receiving a Bioinformatics and Sequencing - Animal Health fellowship was an incredible milestone for my knowledge base in bioinformatics. My expectations were to learn how to collect, manage, interpret, and analyse biological data (large data sets) using available computational tools or software, and to understand how these computational tools are developed. Describe your collaboration with the Bryan? My mentor really helped me a lot during my fellowship. He was always there when I needed his help, from the beginning of the fellowship to its end. He always tried to find out if I was having problems working with certain bioinformatics tools. He recommended and shared websites/links with useful resources/content that would enrich my understanding of bioinformatics. I must say that Bryan gave me a lot of time to engage with the goals of the fellowship. The bond between mentor and mentee was really excellent! What was the most valuable lesson you learned during your fellowship? Among the most valuable findings was the use of tools such as ARIBA, Kraken2, Kma, and Spades to study AMR resistance genes in a given database. Were your expectations met during the fellowship? Yes, it was a great experience for me. I learned how to use different bioinformatics tools that I expected when I started the fellowship. Learning how other countries address the challenges of antibiotic resistance was also on my list of expectations, and that really came true during my visit to Edinburgh. I learned so many important lessons during my fellowship. What advice would you give to future fellows? In order for future fellows to get the most out of the fellowship, and promote successful transfer of knowledge and skills, there must be a good connection between the mentor and the mentee. Second, it is very important to allow enough time for the fellowship – this is one of the challenges that fellows face! Related Links Fleming Fund Fellowship Scheme Dr. Bryan Wee profile Publication date 18 Oct, 2022
