As part of the ODIN project’s activities, particularly the whole-genome sequencing (WGS) component for pathogens of interest, a training course was held in Nanoro from 1 to 5 June 2026. The course brought together 10 biologists and biomedical technologists and was delivered by an Illumina technician from Accra (Ghana). The participants were 50% women and 50% men, thus ensuring gender balance.

This training, which was coordinated by Dr Palpouguini Lompo, the regional coordinator for ODIN Burkina Faso, focused on library preparation using the Nextera XT kit. The trainer combined theoretical sessions (PowerPoint presentations) with practical laboratory sessions. The various stages were covered, namely DNA purification, amplification, DNA concentration measurements, denaturation, library pooling, library normalisation, and loading the final library into the Illumina cartridge. The different types of washing procedures for the MiSeq instrument were also demonstrated. After loading the Escherichia coli DNA library from the ODIN project, sequencing was initiated and took 24 hours to produce satisfactory results, which were analysed online on Illumina’s Basespace platform. 

Click to view photos from the event: