Lahor Research Laboratories And Medical Center

Brief History

The Lahor Research Laboratories and Medical Center (LRLMC) was built in 2004 and commissioned for use on January 4^th 2005 by the then Commissioner for Health of Edo State of Nigeria, Dr. Osaro Martins. The Centre started with a workforce of 5 and has since grown to over 40 staff including a Managing Director (Prof Dennis Agbonlahor, FRCPath, FAS), Medical Doctors, Laboratory Scientists, Nurses, Laboratory Technicians, Laboratory Assistants, Phlebotomists and Visiting Researchers/Scientists.  

In 2007, the Biotechnology unit at the Centre got strengthened by the acquisition of thermal cyclers and other equipment for molecular diagnostics and nucleic acid research. This effort received further encouragement, same year, when two researchers (Prof Christian Happi and Prof Sabatti) from Harvard University, USA (who themselves were interested in Lassa fever research), visited the LRLMC and donated freezers and refrigerators to the Centre.

Being a private organization, the LRLMC management led these visitors to a Federal Government Institution, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH) Management to establish collaborative research on Lassa fever diagnosis and control in Nigeria. Subsequently, a tripartite agreement was signed by the trio from Harvard University, USA, ISTH and LRLMC to work on a collaborative project involving human genomic/Lassa viral studies.

In 2008, the team succeeded with the first laboratory confirmation of Lassa fever in Nigeria, using polymerase chain reaction technique at LRLMC and ISTH, both in Edo State of Nigeria. In 2013, the LRLMC received further boost when more state-of-art molecular diagnostic equipment, such as AB 7500 Fast Real-Time PCR system, ABI 310 Genetic Analyzer and Captair Bio Safety Cabinet (Erlab) were added to its Molecular Diagnostics unit. This unit of the LRLMC complex was commissioned by the then Nigerian Minister of Health, Prof Oyebuchi Chukwu, on August 5^th 2013.

The Centre has since remained a reference point, particularly, in the Molecular identification of infectious pathogens (e.g Lassa, Ebola, Dengue and Yellow fever viruses, including bacteria, fungi and parasitic pathogens) from human and animal specimens. The Centre is also renowned for the training and human capacity building for  Researchers, Lecturers, Students and other Biomedical Scientists, through the mounting of Seminars, Workshops, Short courses  and Conferences.

Director General

The Director General of the Complex PROF. DENNIS E. AGBONLAHOR, Ph.D(UniLag), FIBMS(UK), FMLSCN(Nig.), FRCPath(UK), FAS(Nig.), FAMedS(Nig.), is a widely travelled Medical Microbiologist, a Consultant Medical Laboratory Scientist, a Former Vice Chancellor of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma-Nigeria, a Former Chairman of the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria and an African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) Ambassador for Nigeria. Access Prof’s CV

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