Research Labs
MUWRP Clinical and Research Laboratory
Our Laboratory has well trained and highly qualified professionals and is accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP). It has state-of-the-art capabilities including Diagnostics, Flow Cytometry, Processing and Safety Laboratories, and a well-established Liquid Nitrogen plant.
It is manned by over 25 staff and undergoes several audits throughout the year:
- CAP (every 2 years)
- PPD (every 2 years)
- Internal Lab audits (Quarterly)
The lab offers clinical safety testing, diagnostic serology, molecular diagnostics and immunophenotyping. In addition, The MUWRP laboratory is a model for laboratory quality management systems (QMS). The laboratory participates in a number of external quality assurance surveys (EQAs), including: CAP, BIO-RAD, VQA, UK-NEQAS and EQAPOL for clinical and research assays.
Diagnostics section: Performs testing for HIV, Hepatitis B and C, Syphilis, Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV), Trichomonas vaginalis, Chlamydia Trachomatis (CT), Neisseria Gonorrhea (GC), Troponin and detection of latent TB infection.
Safety Labs: Handles tests necessary for clinical monitoring of patients and/or study volunteers. These include complete blood counts (CBC), blood films, clinical chemistry, urinalysis, coagulation (PT and APTT) and pregnancy tests.
Flow Cytometry section: Equipped and facilitated to perform both clinical immune monitoring and cellular immunophenotyping and function assays.
Student Training
As a research institution affiliated to MUK, MUWRP extends training attachment opportunities to students from MUK School of biomedical sciences as part of their advanced training in lab services. Training attachments is available in clinical labs, diagnostics, molecular biology, cellular immunology, PBMC processing and quality management systems. The MUWRP lab supports professional development by offering mentorship, academic and research support in postgraduate training (MSc and PhD). These opportunities are also available for students and staff from other Ugandan universities and research institutionsLab based research studies
RV271: The MUWRP lab in support of clinical trials processes whole blood to isolate peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) that can be utilized in various research assays. The RV271 protocol aims to assess the quality of PBMCs processing and cryopreservation conducted at the lab through the assessment of viability, PBMC recovery and maintenance of cell function.
Grants
MUWRP won the Glaxo SmithKline Capacity development grants for African Institutions 2015. As a result GSK is supporting two research activities in the lab:
1. “Phenotypic and functional characterisation of B cells cerebral spinal fluids and peripheral blood in HIV infected patients with Cryptococcal meningitis co infection
2. “’Invitro screening of African tropical plant extracts as potential targets of chronic CD4 T cell activation’