Centre For Molecular Biosciences And Biotechnology (CMBB)

Welcome Message

You are warmly welcome to the Centre for Molecular Biosciences and Biotechnology, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike.

Molecular Biology, Biotechnology and other Life sciences have enormous potential for the development of new technologies and discoveries that will make tremendous impact on our agricultural, health and industrial sectors in the twenty first century. The Centre for Molecular Biosciences and Biotechnology in Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (CMBB) has been established to serve as a Centre of Excellence to provide facilities and services for research and training in all aspect of molecular life sciences and biotechnology that can lead to improvement in agricultural products/technologies, healthcare, industrial development and environmental management.

Objective

To be a centre of excellence in Molecular Biosciences and Biotechnology research in Africa.
To provide core services that will avail researchers in Biotechnology and Molecular Biosciences with high standards through-put analytical services.
To establish strong research collaboration with sister institutions around the world that will encourage exchange of ideas between scientists and collaborating institutions.
To collaborate with other organs of the University in applying the fruits of biotechnology research to the solution of problems of the development and human well being.

The Centre intends to achieve these objectives through the organization of training courses, conferences, and seminars for capacity building. The infrastructural development of the Centre is in progress and once completed, research programmes will be initiated. The action plan being formulated, concentrates on low-level low-demanding technologies e.g. plant tissue culture, biological nitrogen fixation, disease detection and super ovulation in livestock on a short-term basis while higher level technologies e.g. gene-transfers, enzymology are being considered on the long term.

Vision

To become a centre of excellence with international reach in Molecular Biosciences and Biotechnology Research providing core laboratory services and Biotechnological Education at all levels.

Mission

To provide

(i) State of the art facilities and services for trans-disciplinary research in Molecular Biosciences and Biotechnology for the benefit of the community.

(ii) A platform for world class scientists to interact in their quest for innovative solutions to present and future challenges in agriculture, health, industry and the environment.

Operation of the centre

The Centre is designed to serve as a medium where scientists working in the life sciences can find the kind of collaboration that can engender multidisciplinary approach as to research questions that can lead to scientific breakthroughs and innovation. Researchers in this Centre are drawn from the parent Departments involved in various life sciences, Agricultural Engineering, and related fields within MOUAU and its collaborating institutions.

The CMBB is designed to serve as a fusion of intellectual strength and demonstrable practical skills that provide a platform for training and research in Molecular Biosciences and Biotechnology as well as Consultancy/Analytical services to researchers within and outside MOUAU. This will conceivably provide the scientific community with practical solutions to complex problems.

Core Laboratory Services

The CMBB provides fee-for-service pals procedures to life scientists

The building is designed to house four core laboratories viz:

Cell/Tissue Culture Laboratory
Plant and Animal tissue culture Molecular Biology Laboratory
Genomics
Metabolomics
Proteomics
Genetic engineering
Microbiology and Fermentation Laboratory
Food Biotechnology
Quality Control and Analytical Service Laboratory

Core Research Activities and Services

Genomics: DNA and RNA studies embracing, sequencing, synthesis amplification, gene expression profiling etc

Proteomics: Protein Isolation, purification sequence analysis, synthesis and re-engineering

Cell and tissue culture: Plant and animal cell culture, embryo manipulation

E-MAIL –cmbb@mouau.edu.ng

Process Biotechnology: Fermentation using bioreactors, bioprocessing and phytoremediation

Food Biotechnology: probiotics

Bioinformatics: Construction of databases, storage and retrieval of data

Educational Programmes

Biotechnology training programme for Senior Secondary School Students during vacation
Short term Biotechnology Symposium for teachers of Secondary School Science, Health Science and Agriculture
Annual Biotechnology Workshop for researchers in Molecular Biosciences and Biotechnology
Quarterly University-wide biotechnology Molecular Biosciences and Biotechnology
Quarterly trainings in Biotechnology skills for post graduate students, researchers and scientists drawn from industries
Deployment of ICT and media in popularizing Biotechnology

External Collaborating Institution

Biotechnology Research programme, National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike
Centre for Integrated Biosystems (CIB) Utah State University Logan Utah State USA
National Biotechnology Development Agency, Abuja Nigeria