The international Glossina Genome Initiative developed genomic resources including ESTs, a BAC library, and the sequenced Glossina morsitans mortisans genome to facilitate genomic capacity development on the African continent.

In lieu of a completely sequenced Glossina genome, the consortium recruited global funds that enabled the development of a molecular toolbox, which initially included the production of expressed sequence tags (ESTs)—sequences produced from the ends of cloned cDNA fragments—from 11 large cDNA libraries, along with the construction and sequencing of a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library. The molecular toolbox became the training instrument for five ten-day bioinformatics workshops held at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, involving a total of 75 students and researchers from 18 African countries (Table 1). Although, by their very nature, the EST libraries only offered a partial and highly fragmented picture of the genome, they were nonetheless an opportunity to gain insight into the molecular mechanisms and processes that govern vectorial capacity of Glossina [4]–[9]. These workshops provided an environment for students to interact with international experts from Yale University, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and RIKEN. The manual annotation exercise of the Glossina transcriptome resulted in a curated Glossina dataset (www.vectorbase.org) and afforded graduate students an opportunity to acquire a skill set that could be transferred to other sequencing projects. At least 20% of participants have subsequently forged international collaborations with these trainers or have, themselves, become sought after as genomics trainers and supervisors of graduate students.

The IGGI consortium held annual executive meetings, which either coincided with workshop activities or at scientific meetings where many members were present. During the annual IGGI consortium meeting in November 2009, the tsetse biological laboratories from within the consortium established themselves as remote mentoring sites for the Glossina Functional Genomics Network. This enabled three African students to participate in a two-month exchange program hosted annually in laboratories in the United States and Europe. These graduate students gained additional skills in genomics and functional genomics areas, and the visits provided them with an established scientific network for academic support while they continued their graduate studies. The first cohort of the exchange program was subsequently funded to present their work at the bi-annual African Society for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology meeting in Cape Town, South Africa in 2011. These students have afterwards either completed their PhD degrees or are in their final stages of doing so. Four additional centers on the African continent were identified as partners within the Glossina Functional Genomics Network—in Malawi, Zambia, Sudan, and Uganda.

The skills development funding obtained from the WHO-TDR program was maximized to create a research-enabling environment in tsetse-endemic countries by supporting recipients of the exchange programs. To this end, in collaboration with Professor Erik Bongcam-Rudloff, Uppsala University, the EBIOKIT was adopted for African tsetse research laboratories to carry out genomic analyses locally without the need to rely on internet connectivity. The bioinformatics computing environment was rolled out in Kenya, where 44 participants received hands-on training to use the myriad of bioinformatics analytical tools embedded within the EBIOKIT. This international collaborative training session impacted Egerton University's Faculty of Agriculture, Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology, Moi University, Kenya Wildlife Services, and the Kenyan Ministry of Higher Education.

The impact of the IGGI consortium activities over the past eight years can be measured by the capacity development activities afforded to both students and junior researchers in Africa. The IGGI activities have been a catalyst for graduate training in genomics on the African continent. Notwithstanding the training workshops, at least ten MSc and 12 PhD students were trained as a direct consequence of access to Glossina genome data (Table S1). Having an established network allowed some of the African participants to gather additional research funds from the WHO-TDR Entomology Committee to begin a population genetics investigation in the Lake Victoria Basin. This initiative further enabled the network to recruit three PhD students to be trained in genomics research. Similarly, the Yale scientists within IGGI were successful in securing funds from the Fogarty International Center to help support capacity in tsetse research in East Africa. These funds allowed the network participants to organize workshop activities in Kenya and Uganda focusing on population genetics/genomics, bioinformatics, and functional genomics fields for tsetse researchers and students.

Researchers, on the other hand, who have been part of the IGGI consortium, have facilitated short courses at their local institutions; been invited to act as reviewers for international journals; and won competitive grants from IAEA, WHO-TDR, BecA/NEPAD, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Fogarty International Center of NIH, and the South African National Research Foundation. More recently, networks have been established to enable graduate students to be cosupervised across African institutions where experimental work is being carried out at International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) and the Trypanosomiasis Research Center (TRC) in Kenya, Gulu University and Makerere University in Uganda, as well as at Yale University in the US, and the bioinformatics analysis and training is conducted at the South African National Bioinformatics Institute in South Africa.

The genomic activities of the IGGI consortium over the past ten years have provided a skill set for African researchers to exploit the recently sequenced Glossina morsitans morsitans genome. The completion of a ten-year genome project has cemented a scientific network of trypanosomiasis researchers that will be required to provide mentoring to new students and researchers as strategies are sought to best integrate the valuable genomic resources for the Tsetse and the TriTryp genomes. Moreover, the involvement of scientists from disease-endemic countries from the start sets the Tsetse genome project apart from other vector or parasite projects and will help to ensure a greater sense of ownership and long term commitment. Access to the human genome sequence, the trypanosomatid genomes [10]–[13], and trypanosome ‘omics data [14], [15] has provided insight into host–parasite interactions and the identification of new vaccine candidates or chemotherapeutic targets. Targeting tsetse–trypanosome interactions with the goal of identifying genes that modulate trypanosome transmission has entered the realm of feasibility with the completion of the tsetse genome sequencing project.