Accra-based Yemaachi Biotech wants to sequence 15,000 cancer genomes from African patients over the next three years through the African Cancer Atlas (TACA), a consortium that includes over 25 hospitals and research institutions across 9 African countries. People of African descent are under-represented in genomic datasets that underpin cancer diagnosis, treatment and drug development globally — they account for less than 2%, as compared with nearly 80% from North American and European ancestry. Yemaachi has recruited Roche as its first anchor partner in TACA.
Agbiotech startup Neocrop Technologies has developed a high-fiber wheat in partnership with seed companies Campex Baer and Argentina’s Buck Semillas. Chile’s agricultural regulator confirms that the new wheat line, developed with CRISPR technology, will not be classified as a GMO, clearing the way for field trials without further regulatory barriers and making it the first gene-edited wheat in the Americas to receive such a go-ahead. The wheat line has a dietary fiber content up to ten times higher than conventional flour wheat without compromising the flavor and texture of its white flour.
