Ile-Ife, Osun State, January 2026. The AMIR Fund for Education, Science and Technology has expanded its support for the Professor Adebayo Shittu Molecular Biology Laboratory in the Department of Microbiology, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). The support now covers the core inputs that research depends on, not only the researchers themselves.
Under its Memorandum of Understanding with OAU, the Fund has financed:
- Laboratory equipment, including an autoclave for sterilisation
- Molecular biology reagents, including PCR master mix and DNA staining agents
- A CCTV system to secure the laboratory and its equipment
- Stipends for laboratory interns
- Travel support for a postdoctoral researcher to pursue international collaboration
The investment builds on the Professor Adebayo Shittu Research Award for Molecular Biology. This month the award's first round supports two MSc students and one postdoctoral fellow working on infectious diseases and oncology. The Fund disburses directly to the laboratory and the recipients through its trustee, First Trustees Nigeria Limited.
“Our researchers have the talent. Too often they lack a working autoclave or the next batch of reagents,” said Ridwan Sorunke, Founder and Trustee of the AMIR Fund and a graduate of OAU's Department of Microbiology. “We want this laboratory to produce work that competes with the best, from Ile-Ife.”
About the AMIR Fund
The AMIR Fund for Education, Science and Technology is a registered charitable trust in Nigeria, founded and funded by Ridwan and Mariam Sorunke as a way of giving back to society. The Fund supports students, teachers and researchers through scholarships, prizes, research grants and mentorship, and runs social intervention work in rural and peri-urban communities. Its partners include Obafemi Awolowo University, African Church Grammar School and Dawah Front of Nigeria. The Fund is administered by First Trustees Nigeria Limited.
Media contact
AMIR Fund Communications · fund@amirfund.org · www.amirfund.org
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