Hello, I’m Thomas Locke and this is Five Minutes, the podcast that brings you closer to the malaria experts.

The Mobile Malaria team, led by Dr George Busby from the University of Oxford, are about to set off on a six-thousand-kilometre journey across Africa.

They’ll be making the journey in a Land Rover, taking portable DNA sequencing technology on the road.

Sequencing DNA is no mean feat, it requires lots of specialist equipment, stuff you’d normally find in a lab. But this project won’t be done in a high-tech laboratory, it’ll be done from the boot of a car.

I recently spoke with Dr Busby and began by asking how they’re able to take this highly technical operation on the road.