Ashesi University is a private, nonprofit university established in 2001. Its innovative multidisciplinary core curriculum is intended to develop critical thinking, creative problem solving, ethical reasoning, and effective communication skills.  In 2018, Ashesi became the youngest university in Ghanaian history to receive an independent charter.

The Department of Engineering is one of four academic departments at the university. Current offerings include undergraduate degree programs in computer engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, and mechanical engineering.

As a bioengineer, Elena Rosca, PhD, (right) is trained to use the tools of synthetic biology to solve problems. 

Dr. Rosca’s career began in the United States and the United Kingdom, where she focused on designing new approaches to immunotherapy for cancer treatment.

Her team developed and began to test a nanoparticle with the ability to stimulate a patient’s immune system to attack cancer cells without harming the rest of the body. 

This work was not yet complete when Dr. Rosca relocated to the Department of Engineering at Ashesi University in Ghana in 2016. However, the available equipment in her new lab was not adequate for her to see it through. 

Undaunted, Dr. Rosca turned her attention to helping her new students engineer solutions to problems that are particularly important in her new home country: health, mining, and agriculture.

One problem that looms large in Ghana’s economic and environmental future is extracting gold from “refractory” ores, which are among the most difficult to refine.

Dr. Rosca worked with a team of students to engineer a strain of E. coli capable of facilitating gold extraction from refractory ores.

If successfully scaled up, biological processing would potentially be cleaner and safer than standard industrial processes involving toxic chemicals. 

The project was accepted as an entry to the prestigious International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition in 2017. Sadly, the engineered bacterium could not be kept alive after the competition due to lack of equipment.

Another proposed project will focus on developing a better way to deliver life-saving but notoriously unpalatable malaria drugs to children.

Dr. Rosca hopes to capitalize on the popularity of probiotic yogurt drinks, which are popular in Ghana, to hide the unpleasant taste.

The equipment from Seeding Labs will help Ashesi University build and outfit a cell culture facility — a place equipped to grow cells engineered to solve all kinds of problems — and allow the university to start a dedicated bioengineering program.

 “Cell culture facilities are far and few in the country. Having a state-of-the-art facility would enable our faculty to start or continue their research interests,” says Dr. Rosca.

Equipment will also help the researchers “collaborate with scientists in the country and globally and increase  scientific knowledge produced on the African continent.”