The goals of BioStruct-Africa to train, develop and maintain world-class structural biologists working in Africa on diseases predominantly affecting the Africa continent, in my opinion, is long overdue. In many instances, these diseases are no longer localised to this part of the world but are spreading far and wide due to our interconnectivity, climate change and the movement of people for social-economic reasons. The worldwide rise of antibiotic resistance is a clear example of a serious disease that needs to be tackled immediately by all countries in the world.

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Working on the so-called neglected diseases is neither a waste of resources or time. As a result of evolution, biological life is fundamentally connected. Hence, uncovering the molecular details underpinning any disease has benefits for all other diseases. Structural biology is an essential tool for pushing forward our understanding of all biological processes, providing the molecular details of disease intervention points, aids small molecule drug development and antibody development. As such, I strongly support the goals as aspirations of BioStruct-Africa.

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Dr Declan A. Doyle

Senior Teaching Fellow in Molecular Mechanisms and Molecular Medicine, University of  Southampton