A federated platform for African-origin, endemic, and indigenous digital sequence information — genomes, proteins, protein structures, eDNA, and imaging data, among others — built for researchers, node operators and institutions, and funders and policymakers alike. The tiles below are one click into each major section of the site, the same destinations already in the nav above.
A federated species/sequence catalog, aggregated across the Hub's Sub-regional/ National/Spoke tiers and complemented by mirrored data from external sources — with a consistent focus on African biodiversity.
Every citable record here carries a durable id with one-click citation/BibTeX export, and this platform's own bulk-export feeds (DCAT, Darwin Core Archive) are documented on the API guide — see Getting Started for a full walkthrough.
DSI (digital sequence information) means the sequence/structural data itself — not physical specimens or genetic material — so accessing a record here never grants any physical-material access. Access-and-benefit-sharing compliance is handled by a dedicated third-party verification service this platform calls via API, never adjudicated by this platform itself — see the ABS section of our Terms of Use for the full boundary.
Not sure what to search for? Leave the box above blank, or browse by first letter below — every species in the catalog is already listed, alphabetically, by default.
The Core Team behind building and operationalizing the African DSI DataBank.
Dr. ThankGod Echezona Ebenezer
Principal Software & AI Engineer for the African DSI DataBank · African BioGenome Project (AfricaBP)
ThankGod is the Founder & Co-Chair of the African BioGenome Project (AfricaBP) as well as the Principal Software & Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineer for the African DSI DataBank. With extensive multi-year experiences in biodiversity genomics and bioinformatics projects, research, community-building, Software Engineering and AI, stakeholders engagements and partnership frameworks, as well as ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of DSI. ThankGod obtained his PhD degree from the University of Cambridge, UK; MSc from the University of Lagos, and BSc from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria.
Through the AfricaBP and its Open Institute, ThankGod brought together over 65 African and non-African institutions, and since 2022 has supported the coordination and delivery of over 130 workshops across 12 African countries that reached over 50 African states, and trained over 1500 African researchers in hands-on genomics, bioinformatics, data analysis, molecular biology, ELSI and DSI.
Contributions: Built and engineered the African DSI DataBank; implemented and carried out all Software and AI Engineering works, including ongoing production and maintenance.
Prof. Achraf El Allali
Associate Professor · Bioinformatics Laboratory, College of Computing, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Ben Guerir, Morocco
Prof. Achraf El Allali is an Associate Professor at the College of Computing at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), where he leads the Bioinformatics Laboratory aimed at advancing UM6P's research goals in agriculture, environment, and health. His research lies at the intersection of computational omics and genomic language models (gLMs), leveraging sequence-to-function foundation models to decode complex biological sequences. Prof. El Allali drives the development of innovative computational tools, algorithms, and high-performance web applications, while establishing dedicated platforms and databases to host web services for the broader scientific community. Through these computational omics resources, his work enables high-throughput data analysis and functional annotation across genomic, metagenomic, and bio-environmental applications.
Contributions: Prof El Allali has been involved in planning the African DSI DataBank through strategic engagements with the core team. He was involved in evaluating the platform, conducting testing, and providing actionable feedback during its incubation. Moving forward, he aims to expand the platform’s impact by facilitating regional node connections, supporting database cross-referencing, and driving seamless interoperability across African repositories.
Dr. Abdoallah Sharaf
Senior Bioinformatician / Professor · SequAna – Sequencing Analysis Core Facility, University of Konstanz, Germany / Ain Shams University, Egypt
Dr. Abdoallah Sharaf is a Senior Bioinformatician at SequAna – Sequencing Analysis Core Facility, University of Konstanz, Germany, and Professor of Genetics at Ain Shams University, Egypt. He has completed several international research fellowships and collaborations with leading institutions in Italy, Spain, and the Czech Republic, gaining extensive experience in international genomics research environments.
Dr. Sharaf serves voluntarily as Co-Chair of the African BioGenome Project (AfricaBP), Science, Technology, Monitoring, and Evaluation Subcommittee (STMEC), where he contributes to strategic planning, genomic data generation, and capacity-building initiatives across Africa.
His research focuses on comparative genomics and genome evolution, particularly in unicellular eukaryotes near the root of major eukaryotic supergroups. He has strong expertise in genome assembly and annotation using short- and long-read sequencing technologies and is actively involved in developing scalable, reproducible bioinformatics pipelines for genome and transcriptome analysis. Dr. Sharaf regularly serves as a peer reviewer for several international journals and is a member of the Reviewer Board for MDPI Microorganisms and the Genetics and Biodiversity Journal (GABJ).
Contributions: Dr. Sharaf has contributed to the development of the Gene2OneHealth tool and has been involved in reviewing, testing, and providing feedback on the African DSI DataBank. Going forward, he aims to contribute further to the development and testing of bioinformatics tools and data resources, particularly those supporting genomic data discovery, analysis, and capacity building across Africa.
