Cheikh Tidiane Diagne

Cheikh trained at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and at the University of Toulouse (France) where he graduated in 2013 with a PhD in Structural and Functional Biology. His PhD research was focused on the dynamic analysis and assembly of site-specific DNA recombination machinery using single-molecule techniques. From 2014 to 2016, he worked at the Electronics Department (LETI) of the French Commission for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies (CEA) in Grenoble (France) as a postdoctoral researcher. There, his research efforts were focused on bio-inspired technologies for molecular electronics.

Cheikh joined the virology department and the WHO collaborating for arboviruses and haemorrhagic fever viruses of the Pasteur Institute of Dakar in Senegal in 2016. His primary interests were centred on innovation for Global Health, particularly on the development and evaluation of point-of-care diagnostics tools, digital health for biosample transportation and banking and rapid extraction method for nucleic acid amplification. Since March 2020, he has been leading the DIATROPIX laboratory, a social venture founded by the Institut Pasteur de Dakar (Senegal), the Merieux Foundation (France), the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (Geneva) and the Institut de Recherche et de Développement (France). DIATROPIX focuses on local manufacturing of rapid diagnostics tests for neglected and epidemic diseases in Africa.