Moi University officials upon receiving the Sh121M lab equipment from Seeding Labs, February 5, 2018. [Photo/Moi University/Facebook]
The Moi University has received lab equipment worth Sh121 million from Seeding Labs, a consortium of American Institutions based in Boston, Massachusetts which helps to collect laboratory equipment and supply them to the developing world.
The equipment will be utilized in the Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Medical Biochemistry, according to a communication from the institution.
“We have been able to work with many manufacturers to source their surplus equipment and about 60% of the items that we are sending are new (not previously used). I will also take this opportunity to remind you that the majority of the equipment is 120V, so plans for step-down transformers or access to 120V lines in the labs will need to be made,” said Dr. Melissa P. Wu, Seed Labs’ Global Partnerships Director, in a delivery note to Moi University Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Laban Ayiro.
Among the donated equipment are Fourier Transform-Infra Red spectrophotometer (FT-IR), High-Performance Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC), Rotavapour, Mass Spectrometer, X-Ray, Electrophoresis and UV-Visible Spectrophotometer.
"Moi University was among the 15 outstanding research institutions selected for Instrumental Access 2017 Programme to be awarded lab equipment," the university said on Monday.
The awardees for the Seeding Labs programme were selected from a pool of 65 applications sent from 24 countries.
On March 22, 2017, Seeding Labs held its Positively Instrumental: Celebrating the Power of Global Science event at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research in Cambridge, MA.
The annual event gives thanks to the nonprofit’s various partners and is also the launching pad for the year’s Instrumental Access program awardees.
Through the programme, talented researchers in developing countries are awarded donated lab equipment that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to access.