South Africa is emerging as a hub for virus hunting, thanks to the work of Brazilian, Portuguese, and South African virus expert Tulio de Oliveira. De Oliveira played a key role in confirming COVID-19 variants Beta and Omicron, as well as participating in early trials testing the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in the country. He has established two major scientific institutes in South Africa—the Kwazulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform and the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation, which is now the largest genomics center in Africa. These institutes train the next generation of genetic experts and conduct cutting-edge genetic sequencing and analysis on a variety of disease-causing pathogens.
De Oliveira’s efforts have had a significant impact on the genomics landscape in Africa, with many current leaders of genomics labs in African countries coming from his lab. He believes that African genomics systems are now not only on par with the best in the world, but are actually more advanced. In 2024, the U.K.’s Wellcome Sanger Institute invited de Oliveira to become its chief scientific officer, but he chose to focus on establishing Africa as a leading player in genomics instead.
De Oliveira proposed a merger between his institutes and the Wellcome Sanger Institute to combine their strengths in quickly identifying and characterizing pathogens and scaling up genetic sequencing and analysis. Together, they aim to create a more robust global system of disease tracking, with a focus on monitoring the effects of climate change on infectious diseases and human health. De Oliveira emphasizes the importance of seeing pathogens as a global issue, rather than just a national one, as they do not respect borders.