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27 September 2022 | Story André Damons | Photo Charl Devenish
Prof Martin Nyanga
Prof Martin Nyaga, Associate Professor in the UFS-NGS Unit and Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre (WHO CC), says the UFS researchers – through the Division of Virology/NHLS and the UFS-NGS Unit – were involved in the major publication as part of the NGS-SA consortium from the study design phase, ethics applications, and throughout the study.
Researchers from the University of the Free State (UFS) Next Generation Sequencing (UFS-NGS) Unit and Division of Virology/ National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) were part of a major publication featuring hundreds of authors from Africa who did research on the evolution of SARS-CoV-2.

The scientific publication in the journal Science (impact factor 47.728) featured more than 300 scientists and public health officials from Africa and abroad, who worked together to look into the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, the viral agent causing COVID-19. It was the first collaborative study of this nature conducted in Africa during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The publication became available online on 15 September this year. 

According to a press release by the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI) at Stellenbosch University and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), this was the largest consortium of African scientists and public health institutions working together to support data-driven COVID-19 response in Africa. This collaboration was led by two labs (CERI and KRISP) and the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA) consortium, of which the UFS-NGS Unit and Division of Virology are founding members, in close coordination with the Africa CDC, WHO/AFRO and 300 other institutions across the continent.

It is an awesome feeling

Prof Martin Nyaga, Associate Professor in the UFS-NGS Unit and Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre (WHO CC), says the UFS researchers – through the Division of Virology/NHLS (coordinated by Prof Dominique Goedhals and Mr Philip Armand Bester) and also the UFS-NGS Unit (Prof Nyaga, Dr Peter Mwangi, Mr Milton Mogotsi, and Mr Emmanuel Ogunbayo) – were involved as part of the NGS-SA consortium from the study design phase, ethics applications, and throughout the study, processing the SARS-CoV-2 positive samples for whole-genome sequencing, thus generating significant sequence data of the SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in South Africa.

“It is an awesome feeling to be part of the solution in resolving the COVID-19 pandemic by providing data that would track variants in real time and data used to implement prophylactic solutions, such as vaccine development, against a virus that was a global threat,” says Prof Nyaga. 

According to him, the utility of next-generation sequencing technologies in understanding genomics of diseases was clearly demonstrated in this study and will assist in addressing future diseases/pandemics. These genomic studies provide deeper insights regarding diseases, and they will provide timely solutions to solving diseases affecting the Mother Continent.

UFS Free State variants study

Prof Nyaga says their Free State variants study, which was also recently published in the journal Frontiers in Virology, performed analysis of samples from patients who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 throughout all the COVID-19 waves. “We aimed to determine whether the variants driving the epidemic waves at the national level were also driving the epidemic waves at the local level, in the context of the Free State province. The data further indicates that SARS-CoV-2 variants driving the epidemic waves in the Free State at the local level correlated with the ones driving the epidemic waves at the national level. Findings from this study highlight the importance of continued genomic surveillance and monitoring of the circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants to inform public health efforts and ensure adequate control of the ongoing pandemic. 

“Our data has been incorporated into the analyses of the bigger continent-wide collaboration on genomics surveillance to determine how the majority of COVID-19 variants were introduced into Africa, which has now been published in the journal Science,” says Prof Nyaga.  
The publication highlights that sustained investment in diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa was needed to not only help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent, but to establish a platform to address the emerging, re-emerging, endemic infectious disease threats, such as Ebola, HIV/Aids, TB, malaria, and enteric disease-causing viruses.

News Archive

SASOL TRAC laboratory launched at UFS Qwaqwa Campus
2006-05-08

Some of the guests attending the launch of the Sasol TRAC Laboratory at the University of the Free State's (UFS) Qwaqwa Campus were from the left Prof Peter Mbati (Principal of the Qwaqwa Campus), Mrs Zimbini Zwane ( Communications Manager of Sasol Infrachem), Prof Gerhardt  de Klerk (Dean : UFS Faculty of the Humanities), Prof Fred Hugo
 Director of TRAC SA) and Prof Jack van der Linde (Director of RIEP at the UFS).

SASOL TRAC laboratory launched at UFS Qwaqwa Campus

The Research Institute for Education Planning (RIEP) of the University of the Free State (UFS) today unveiled the Sasol TRAC Laboratory at its Qwaqwa campus.

The laboratory will be used to help grade 10, 11 and 12 learners and educators from the Qwaqwa region to conduct the experiments from the physical sciences outcome-based curriculum.

“The Sasol TRAC Laboratory introduces learners not only to the latest technology used by engineers and other scientists in practice but also to stimulate the learner’s interest in the field of science in such a way that more of them will enter into science related careers,” says Mr Cobus van Breda, Co-ordinator of the TRAC Free State Regional Centre.

According to Mr van Breda the newly established Sasol TRAC Laboratory will enable RIEP to train learners and their educators in Physical Sciences.  The laboratory will consist of six work stations equipped with computers and electronic sensors.

“Learners from the Qwaqwa region will visit the Sasol TRAC Laboratory on regular basis to conduct experiments based on the curriculum.  Data will be collected with electronic apparatus and presented as graphs on the computer so that results can be analysed and interpreted,” says Mr van Breda.

“There is a serious shortage of suitable qualified teachers in maths and science in the Qwaqwa region.  Many schools in the region are not yet part of the RIEP project and are in dire need of assistance.  A large number of these schools are in remote areas not reached regularly by intervention programmes,” says Prof Peter Mbati, Principal of the UFS Qwaqwa Campus.

“The establishment of the Sasol TRAC Laboratory at the Qwaqwa Campus provides us the opportunity to engage with our community and assist in the development and training of these vital education subjects.  We are pleased that Sasol agreed to fund the project,” says Prof Mbati.

Students from the Qwaqwa Campus will also benefit from the TRAC programme.   “Some promising students will also undergo further training and become assistants for the TRAC programme,” says Prof Mbati. 

“Nurturing science and mathematical skills is of great importance in growing our national economy. Annually, Sasol invests more than R50 million in supporting mathematical and science education in South Africa. Our primary aim is to increase the number of learners gaining access to tertiary education in the science fields. Therefore, our Corporate Social Investment (CSI) education interventions at secondary school level focus on educator development and direct learner interventions such as the Sasol TRAC Laboratory,” explains Ms Pamilla Mudhray, CSI and SHARP manager at Sasol.

According to Ms Mudhray the implementation of the National Curriculum Statement for physical sciences in the further education and training (FET) phase from 2006, under resourced schools will need greater access to the tools and equipment necessary to teach the syllabus and fulfil the ideals of the curriculum.

TRAC South Africa is a national non-profit programme focused on supporting and expanding science, mathematics and technology education in secondary schools. The programme was first introduced to South Africa in 1994. In 2005, RIEP established the TRAC Free State regional centre on the UFS Main Campus in Bloemfontein.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel:   (051) 401-2584
Cell:  083 645 2454
E-mail:  loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
5 May 2006

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