Colleagues,

In February 2025, after several years of planning and preparatory work, the H3Africa Kidney Disease Research Network (H3AKDRN) entered into a collaborative research agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  This collaboration provides for whole genome sequencing of DNA samples (at Regeneron) and for the Kretzler Laboratory at the University of Michigan to perform tissue level molecular and spatial analyses to identify pathways indicative of progression of kidney disease in the biosamples of the H3AKDRN participants.  The collaboration will provide resources to support clinical center investigators, participant follow-up and recruitment of new participants at our clinical centers in Ghana and Nigeria.  Regeneron will also support early stage research scientists from Ghana and Nigeria to undertake short-term training in genomics in the U.S.  With respect to the latter, Maame Esi Annor-Apaflo, MSc and Bamikole Oluwayemi Joshua, MSc, both doctoral candidates from the University of Accra and the University of Ibadan, respectively, have been approved to begin their genomics science training at the Regeneron campus in Tarrytown, New York, in June 2025.  We thank Dr. Matthias Kretzler and the H3AKDRN team at the University of Michigan, Dr. Akinlolu Ojo, Dr. Dwomoa Adu and our colleagues at Regeneron for their tireless efforts over the last several years to bring this monumentally impactful research partnership into reality.

Sincerely,

Akinlolu Ojo, MD, PhD, MBA
Babatunde Salako, MBBS
Dwomoa Adu, M.B., Ch.B

AOO:aeh