Medical Biotechnology Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Afromics is an upcoming medical biotechnology startup company to be based in Africa. Dr R. S. Katete is the Founder of Afromics. The name Afromics stems from Africa and Omics. Omics refers to the branches of molecular biology whose names end in the suffix -omics, such as genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, metagenomics, metabolomics, and epigenomics. The ending -ome is used to address the objects of study of such branches, such as the genome, proteome, transcriptome, metagenome or metabolome, and epigenome. Understanding omics will help elucidate the structure, function, and dynamics of an organism or organism, which directly impacts the drug and vaccine design.

Afromics aims to discover biomarkers, design antimicrobial drugs and vaccines, develop molecular diagnostic tools, produce enzymes and antibodies for biotechnological and pharmaceutical industries, and create microbial cell factories. Afromics will spearhead the manufacturing of bioreactors and household disinfectants in Africa. The company will also provide small-scale specialized training in medical biotechnology techniques and postdoctoral research fellowships in collaboration with universities worldwide.