World Class Speakers
The conference will feature outstanding speakers with international reputations, as well as a mix of talks from established and early career scientist from Africa and beyond.
| Tuesday, 16th July, 2024 | Activity | Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 3:00 pm – 7:00 pm | Arrival and Registration | |
| Wednesday, 17th July, 2024 | Activity | Speakers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7:30 am – 8:30 am | Registration | ||
| 8:30 am – 8:45 am | Official Conference Opening | Geoffrey Otim Founder & CEO Synbio Africa | |
| 8:45 am – 9:15 am | Opening remarks from partners and stakeholders. | Sponsors: ONR Global, BioMade, LanzaTech, UNIDIR, IBBIS, and RoyLab Global. Kenyan government official: State Department of foreign affairs, TBC SynBio Africa Advisory board: Ms. Bupe Mwambingu | |
| 9:15am – 10:00am | Invited Guest’s Remarks | Hon. Rose Obigah Member of Uganda Parliament | |
| Hon. Denis Naughten TD Chairperson, Inter-Parliamentary Union Working Group on Science & Technology (virtual) | |||
| Dr. Roy Mugiira CEO, Kenya National Biosafety Authority (Chief Guest-TBC) | |||
| 10:00 am – 10:30 am | Tea Break and Group Photogragh | ||
| Track 1: Innovations in Agriculture and Food Safety | |||
| 10:30 am – 11:00 am | Keynote Address 1 Engineering Biology - Industrial-Scale Challenges and Opportunities | Prof. Lionel Clarke OBE Director, BionerG | |
| 11:30 am – 12:30 am | Plenary Biopesticide innovation and regulatory harmonization in Africa Exploring the Integration of Emerging Technologies in Agriculture 4.0 to Enhance Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa | Dr Makomborero Nyoni Co-Founder & Innovation Director, BioLife Innovasies Pvt Ltd Dr. Halima BenBouza Director, National Council of Scientific Research and Technologies, Algeria (virtual) Dr. Harriet Ratemo Lecturer, Daystar University, Kenya | |
| 12:30 pm – 1:00 pm | Keynote Address 2 | Piers Millett PhD Executive Director, International Biosecurity and Biosafety Initiative for Science (IBBIS) | |
| 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm | Lunch Break | ||
| Track 2: Bioinformatics and Artificial Intelligence | |||
| 2:00 pm – 2:30 pm | Keynote Address 3 Systems and synthetic biology: constructing smart and programmable microbes to address global problems(Virtual) | Prof. Tae Seok Moon J. Craig Venter Institute | |
| 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm | PlenaryFuelling a New Era of Life Sciences AI with Global Biodiversity Data | Ms. Bupe Mwambingu Biodiversity Partnerships Manager, Basecamp Research | |
| 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm | Breakout Session 1 | Dr. Kamini Govender Post Doctoral Research Fellow University of Free State, South Africa. | |
| Breakout Session 2 Biomanufacturing advances Topic: Self- synthesizing artificial cells via enzymatic polymerization | Dr. Andrea Belluati Junior Group Leader, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany | ||
| 4:00pm – 4:20pm | Day 1 wrap up by host | ||
| 4:20 pm – 5:00 pm | Posters and Exhibitions in the exhibition Hall | ||
| Thursday, 18th July, 2024 | Activity | Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 am – 09:00 am | Posters and Exhibitions in the exhibition Hall | |
| 9:00 am – 09:15 am | Recap from Day 01 by Host | |
| Track 3: Advances in Biosafety, Biosecurity and One Health | ||
| 9:15 am – 09:45 am | Keynote Address 4 The Biological Weapon Convention | Dr. Clarissa Rios Rojas Political Affairs Officer, UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), Geneva |
| 09:45 am – 10:45 am | Plenary Close the biological security education gap | Prof. Lijun Shang (Virtual) Professor of Biomedical Sciences, London Metropolitan University, UK |
| Plenary Taking Africa to the next level in biosafety and biosecurity in Africa: Are the current efforts enough? | Luis Alberto Ochoa Carrera Pandemic Safety Manager, Michigan State University (Virtual) | |
| Plenary Emerging trends in science diplomacy for promoting biosecurity | Dr. Suryesh Kumar Namdeo Senior Research Analyst, DST Center for Policy Research, India | |
| Plenary The role of Kenya in BWC | Dr. Benson Kinyagia Principal Science Analyst, Kenya National Commission for Science, Technology, and Innovation (NACOSTI) | |
| 10:45 am – 11: 15am | Break Tea | |
| 11:15 am – 12:15 pm | Panel Discussion Topic: Biosecurity and the prevention of biological weapons Moderator: Dr. James Revill, UNIDIR | Dr. Andrew Bakainaga, Country Advisor, WHO Uganda |
| Dr. Clarissa Rios Rojas, Political Affairs Officer, UNODA, Geneva | ||
| Amb. Flavio Damico, Chair, BWC-Working Group, Brazil (Virtual) | ||
| Eliza Walsh, Legal Officer, VERTIC | ||
| 12:15pm – 01:15pm | Plenary Synthetic biology & precision immunotherapy in cancer: A case of Breast cancer | Dr. Francis W. Makokha Head, Human Health Research Program Mount Kenya University |
| Plenary Leveraging Strategic Partnerships for One Health Initiatives in Africa. | Dr. Adrienne Leussa Founder & Principal, Sanilux Pty Ltd, South Africa | |
| 01:15 pm – 02:15 pm | Lunch Break | |
| 2:15 pm – 2:45 pm | Keynote Address 5 The Role of the National Security Commission on emerging Biotechnology | Balaji Narain General Counsel, US National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB), US |
| 2:45 pm – 3:45 pm | Plenary Integrating Biosecurity into Existing Biorisk Management Systems Biosafety and Biosecurity Regulatory Systems in Kenya | Samantha Dittrich, MPH Associate Director, Global Health Security, Merrick & Company. (Virtual) Dr. Roy Mugiira CEO, Kenya National Biosafety Authority Charles Francis Mugoya, PhD Regulatory Affairs Manager for Africa, Target Malaria, Uganda |
| 3:45 pm – 5:15 pm | Panel Discussion Moderator: Ms Bupe Mwambingu, Basecamp Research | Mukonyi Kavaka Watai OGW Deputy Director, Research Innovation and Policy, Ministry for Tourism and Wildlife, Kenya Priscillar Mumo Senior Scientist, Wildlife Research and Training Institute, Kenya Dr. Benson Kinyagia Principal Science Analyst, Kenya National Commission for Science, Technology, and Innovation (NACOSTI) |
| 5:15 pm – 5:30 pm | Day 2 wrap Up by host | |
| 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm | Networking Dinner | |
| Friday, 19th July, 2024 | Activity | Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 am – 9:00 am | Posters and Exhibitions | Exhibition Hall/Lobby |
| 9:00 am – 9:15 am | Recap of day 2 by Host | |
| Track 4: Biomaterials Science, Biosensors and Diagnostics | ||
| 9:15 am – 9:45 am | Keynote Address 6 Diagnostics in the Era of Artificial Intelligence How do we still safeguard Biosecurity | Dr. Talkmore Maruta Director of Programs, African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), Ethiopia |
| 09:45 am – 10:45 am | Plenary session Engineering Enzymes for Advanced Biotechnological Applications | Dr. Henry Madubuike Biomedicine Fellow, University of Salford, Manchester, UK |
| Plenary session OpenBioMAPS: shared tools for accelerating bio- manufacturing | Dr. Jenny Molloy Senior Research Associate, University of Cambridge, UK | |
| Plenary session Collaborations in Africa to accelerate the translation and impact of biomaterials, biosensors, and diagnostics. | Dr. Fatu Badiane Senior Program Officer, Science for Africa Foundation, Kenya | |
| 10:45 am – 11:15 am | Break Tea | |
| 11:15 am -11: 45 am | Keynote Address 7 African Innovation: Shaping the Global Rules? | Denis Naughten TD Chairperson, Inter-Parliamentary Union Working Group on Science & Technology |
| 11:45 am – 12:45 pm | Funders session | Scott A. Walper, PhD Science Director, Synthetic Biology US Office of Naval Research Global London, UK |
| Dr. Martina Siwek Regional Chief Scientist, US Office of Naval Research Global Prague, Czechia. | ||
| Closing Session | ||
| 12:45 am – 1:15 am | Keynote address 8 Closing remarks | Dr. Roselida Owuor Director, Directorate of Research Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Kenya |
| Conference closing Panel Charting the way forward and roadmap for harnessing synthetic biology, AI and Biosecurity for sustainable development in Africa | Invited Guests and stakeholders | |
| 1:15 pm – 1:45 pm | Launch of SynBio Africa Initiatives -African Society for Synthetic Biology (ASSB) -Women in Synthetic Biology in Africa -Start-up accelerator Program -Synthetic cells Africa -SynBio Africa centre of excellence fundraising campaign | Founder & CEO, SynBio Africa Invited Guests Initiative Leads Key stakeholders |
| 1:45 pm – 2:00 pm | Conference Official Closing | Geoffrey Otim Founder & CEO SynBio Africa |