Animal Research Lab

The Animal Research Lab (ANL) is responsible for designing animal experiment models for various diseases and conducting in vivo experiments to investigate the efficacy of infectious disease vaccines and therapeutic candidates. ANL also conducts preclinical research on animal experiments to evaluate the practical use of the results obtained through basic and translational research at IPK. In particular, ANL establishes new drug candidate evaluation platforms and manages the welfare and housing of research animals.

The Animal Research Lab capabilities/assets includes:

  • Establishing infectious disease animal models
  • Generating animal models for human diseases utilizing state-of-the-art technologies, enabling research collaboration in the field of biomedical research
  • Performing in vivo efficacy/toxicity studies
  • Developing technologies for the quality control of the laboratory animals and generating genetically engineered mice (GEM)
  • In total, over 550 m2 (5,920 ft2) of dedicated animal space
    • Specific pathogen free (SPF) zone
    • Animal biosafety level-2, 3 laboratories
  • Trained veterinary staff provide expertise in animal husbandry, transgenic mouse breeding colony maintenance and assistance with routine technical procedures
  • Adhering to AAALAC International (the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International) standards in order to demonstrate commitment to humane and responsible animal research and dedication to good science.

The Medicinal Chemistry team focuses on the optimization of compounds which are identified as effective against target diseases through primary screening.

The areas of activity include:

  • Advancing and accelerating the optimization on drug discovery program
  • Developing novel chemical platform technology for innovative drug discovery (Establishment of PROTAC platform)
  • Developing probe molecules for identifying target and understanding the in vivo mechanism of drug candidates
  • Developing tool compounds for monitoring drug localization in either the cell or living animal
  • Provide open analytical chemistry services, synthesis know-hows and molecular modeling analysis by giving access to IPK’s well-equipped infrastructure to support academia and pharmaceutical companies.

Capacity for storage, preservation and transport of several varieties of biological samples listed at the CERMES official website.

The Molecular Biology Platform is dedicated to the study of emerging pathogens using molecular technologies for the diagnosis, genotyping and genomics of pathogenic microorganisms of public health importance.

Sequencing capacity using both ONT and Illmina (Iseq 100). 1

This platform has suitable technologies with high precisions and high specificities including Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), and Enzyme-Linked Fluorescent Assay (ELFA/VIDAS), significantly proficient to detect antigens/ anti-bodies (as alternative/complementary to gold standard PCR technique), for diagnosing infectious diseases (viral, bacterial, parasitic), making differential diagnosis, and application in epidemiological surveillance.

Through its experience in the maintenance of Anophele kisumu reference strains : Ability to monitor changes over time in residual efficacy and insecticide content of LLINs, and to compare the durability of different types of LLIN distributed to the population.

Technical platform for in vitro monitoring of P. falciparum susceptibility to antimalarial drugs

– Support the Niger Ministry of Public Health (MSP) and act in accordance with the priorities and objectives defined by the National Malaria Control Program (PNLP).
– Monitor the chemoresistance of P. falciparum to antimalarial drugs, and participate in the training of health personnel involved in this activity.
– Assist the PNLP in defining rules for the management of uncomplicated malaria attacks, while avoiding the emergence and spread of new resistances.
– Draw up a global map of chemoresistance in Niger, using in vitro and molecular tests coupled with clinical studies.

Third generation ONT Sequencer.

MinIon – Genomic Surveillance Platform

Pathogens characterization: Sars-CoV-2, Rift and Mpox.

An Illumina’s Iseq100 will be available soon.

Certified ISO 9001
To facilitate and accelerate the scientific discovery for research, clinicians teams. IPT’OMICS works for public and private teams.
Extraction and purification of nucleic acids
Qiacube, Qiagen and QIAxpert System
Qiagen
Concentrator DNA Eppendorf

Quality control of nucleic acids
Qubit 4 Fluorometer, Invitrogen, Bioanalyzer 2100 and Agilent Technologies
Gel electrophoresis
QIAxcel Advanced System and Qiagen

Genome analysis
3500 Series Genetic Analyzers, Applied Biosystems, SureCycler 8800 and Agilent Technologies

Ngs sequencing
ISeq 100-Illumina, Illumina, Bioruptor Sonication System, Diagenode and Oxford Nanopore technologies.

Transcriptome analysis
The LightCycler® 480 System, iScan System and Illumina mini-Ntensfy platform Quantoom-Biosciences.