The Biomedical Science Research and Training Centre (BioRTC) in Yobe has acquired a N200 million worth JASCO Circular Dichroism (CD) Spectrometer, a critical piece of equipment for Alzheimer’s disease research.
This is contained in a statement signed by Prof. Mahmoud Maina, BioRTC founder and Director, in Damaturu on Thursday.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and the most common cause of dementia.
Maina, a renowned neuroscientist, said acquiring the equipment was aimed at strengthening advanced protein structural biology and aggregation research capacity in Nigeria.
He said two BioRTC experts, Alameen Mukhtar and Shamsuddeen Liman, had begun training at the Taylor Analytical Spectroscopy Services Ltd (TASS) in the United Kingdom to effectively man the equipment.
The director said the scientists, drawn from Maina Lab, would receive hands-on training in the installation, assembly, calibration, operation, and maintenance of CD spectroscopy systems.
“ Circular dichroism spectroscopy is an important technique used to study protein structure, folding, and aggregation, including disease-associated proteins such as tau and amyloid-beta implicated in Alzheimer’s disease and related neurodegenerative disorders,” Maina said.
According to him, the advanced international training programme is supported through proceeds from the EMBO Global Investigator Network (GIN) Award he won in December 2025.
The director said Mukhtar and Liman would continue their training at the University of Sussex, applying CD spectroscopy to investigate amyloid-beta and tau protein aggregation relevant to Alzheimer’s disease and related tauopathies.
“ Upon their return to Nigeria, they will lead CD-based structural and biophysical studies within the Maina Lab at BioRTC and support the training of additional researchers in advanced protein analysis techniques,” he said.
Maina thanked EMBO – excellence in life sciences, Taylor Analytical Spectroscopy Services Ltd, and the University of Sussex for supporting the all-important capacity-building initiative.
NAN reports that the neuroscientist, who is Gov. Mai Mala Buni’s Special Adviser on Science and Innovation, is the first black recipient of the Vivensa Academy Rising Star Excellence Award in the UK.
The award was recently presented to Maina by the Vivensa Foundation for advancing innovative work to improve health, ageing and supporting the development of ideas that can make a difference in people’s lives.
He is currently leading a dementia research cohort at the BioRTC and developing context-specific approaches with new research works in the UK.
In 2025, he led a team of scientists to cutting-edge research to unravel the cause of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in Gashua, Jakusko and other communities along the Yobe River. (NAN)
